Nephew, mother suspect Hindu hardliners shouting anti-Christian threats that morning.
NEW DELHI, February 25 (Compass
Direct News) – Family members of a Christian found murdered last week
in the Pandagadu area of Orissa state’s Kandhamal district said they
believe the killers were Hindu nationalists such as those responsible
for more than two months of violent anti-Christian rioting last year.
Hrudayananda Nayak, a 42-year-old father of two, was found dead on
Thursday (Feb. 19) with several injuries to his head sustained as he
took a shortcut through a forest to his home village of Rudangia, two
kilometers from Pandagadu and five kilometers from G. Udayagiri.
His mother, Prasanna Kumari Nayak, has submitted a written complaint to
police alleging the killers were associated with Hindu hardliners
involved in last year’s rioting. His nephew, Sujan Nayak, said that on
the day of the murder, Feb. 18, his uncle told him before leaving home
that he had received threats from three drunken men who were standing
outside shouting threats at Christians in general that morning. “He
quoted them as saying, ‘We will not burn houses this time but will kill
all Christians one by one,’” Sujan Nayak said. “The three men
threatening violence in the morning were seen on the same road passing
through the forest where Hrudayananda was murdered at 11 at night on
the date of the murder. It is one week since the murder, and the
suspects have not returned back home.”
