Six arrested after priest hacked to death in southern India

Published: 2003-10-13

KOLAR, India (CNS) -- Police have arrested six villagers in connection with the hacking to death of a Catholic priest in southern India's Karnataka state. A mob of villagers reportedly killed a priest identified only as Father Sajeevanand, 52, Oct. 7. Police claim a property dispute was the motive, but some Christian leaders suspect Hindu extremists were involved in the murder of the priest, who led a monastic life in Bellur village in the Bangalore Archdiocese, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. Jesuit Father Claude D'Souza, director of the Indian Social Institute in Bangalore, said the slain priest led "a dangerous life," frequently facing threats from quarry owners who wanted him to leave the place. Father Sajeevanand, manager of the True Light ashram, had been involved in disputes with some quarry owners he said were damaging the environment in Bellur, 30 miles east of Bangalore, the state capital.

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .