his alleged involvement in killing two Christian missionaries in the tense southern state of Andra Pradesh, police confirmed, Saturday, June 18. In a statement obtained by BosNewsLife, local police said they detained Vibhag Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) party in the town of Warangal, about 170 kilometers (apr. 106 miles) outside Hydrabad, the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The preacher is one of the key suspects in the killing of native missionaries Isaac Raju and K. Daniel, according to police investigators. Raju’s body was discovered this month "dumped behind bushes in the Golconda area, just outside the state capital, Hyderabad," said the advocacy group All Indian Christian Council (AICC).
JUTE BAG
"His body was found wrapped in a jute bag that was dumped behind bushes in the Golconda area, just outside the state capital, Hyderabad," AICC official Sam Paul told media. Raju, who led an independent church on the outskirts of the city, is survived by his wife and 18-year-old son. His 15-year-old daughter died in a road accident in April.
Earlier the body of another Christian minister in Andhra Pradesh, K. Daniel, was discovered in the same area after Hindu extremists allegedly "tortured and killed" him, most likely on Thursday May 19. It was the same day when a court acquitted fellow militants in the murder of another, Australian, missionary and his two children, BosNewsLife learned from local sources earlier.
"Apparently, [he] left his house with Gospel tracts early on the morning of May 19," indigenous ministry officials told BosNewsLife in an e-mail message released by Christian Aid Mission. "He never returned [and] his wife gave the police a missing person report [the same day]."
RSS TERRORISTS?
Despite the arrest of the RSS preacher, the party strongly denied reported suggestions by United States experts that it could be considered as a terrorist group. "I urge the Indian news media to refrain from spreading false news about RSS without any sound basis," said RSS official Jitendra Kumar.
News of the arrest comes amid rising religious tensions in neighboring Orissa, the BosNewsLife Bureau there monitored. This week a leading politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Pratap Sarangi, was seriously injured when he was attacked by apparent opponents of the controversial weapons distribution programs in which he is allegedly involved.
Hindu groups have begun massive distributions of sharp weapons, including swords and tridents which human rights groups say could be used to intimidate religious minorities, including Christians. (Satya Sundar Mishra is 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. The reporter can be reached via e-mail satya_mishra11@rediffmail.com ).
