Tuesday, June 7, to investigate the killings of three native missionaries and pastors in recent weeks, which have added to fear among the Christian community. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, told a Christian delegation he was "concerned" about the killings of the three men, who were identified as Rev. Sydney David, Pastor K. Daniel, and Rev. K. Isaac Raju.
"We may be in a position to know the actual truth in these cases once the investigation is completed," Reddy said in a statement obtained by the BosNewsLife Bureau in neighboring Orissa.
Christian advocacy group All Indian Christian Council (AICC) said Monday, June 6, that Pastor Raju, who was missing since May 24, was found "wrapped in a jute bag that was dumped behind bushes in the Golconda area, just outside the state capital, Hyderabad."
Native missionary K. Daniel, a preacher from Kummarvadi, was allegedly killed Thursday May 19, by "Hindu extremists", the day when a court acquitted fellow militants in the murder of another, Australian, missionary and his two children, BosNewsLife learned from local sources earlier.
SENTENCE OVERTURNED
May 19 was also the date when the High Court of India’s north-eastern state of Orissa overturned a death sentence given to Dara Singh for his involvement in the murders of Australian Missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons Philip and Timothy in 1999.
"Whoever killed [K. Daniel] put his body in a gunny sack and threw it outside the city into the bushes," added a local ministry official in a Christian Aid Mission statement. The circumstances of the death of Rev. David were not immediately clear.
Chief Minister Reddy promised an investigation after talks with advocacy group ‘United Front For Dalit Christian Rights’ (UFDCR) and other Christian officials, including several bishops. Reddy stressed that his government "was committed to maintaining law and order strictly" and promised it would "do its best to safeguard the interests of all sections of the society, especially the minorities," BosNewsLife learned.
CONDEMNING KILLINGS
Hindu Fundamentalist group Rastiya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) denied involvement in murdering the pastors’. Condemning "the brutal killings" of pastors in the state, the RSS asked the "State Government to initiate steps to identify the real culprits behind the heinous crime."
Regional organizer of RSS, T.V. Deshmukh told local media that "opportunistic politicians" were trying "to get mileage by pointing an accusing finger" at the RSS. "But we have no links with these murders," he said.
BosNewsLife investigations have shown however that RSS and other militants are involved in weapons distribution programs, while some have been trained to fight Christians. (Satya Sundar Mishrais BosNewsLife India Reporter based in Orissa. Mishra, 26, is a Development Journalist of Orissa working on social and religious issues that are not yet on the radar screen of media and politicians. He has been working for a variety of key publications and is currently also active as Sub-editor and Senior Reporter with Odisha Bhaskar, a regional daily newspaper. He can be reached via e-mail satya_mishra11@rediffmail.com ).
