KORLAHALLI, India — Pastor Mallik Arjun knew something was wrong when he received a call from the mobile phone of his friend and fellow pastor in Gadag District, Karnataka state — but it was a stranger on the other end of the line.
The stranger told him that Pastor Nagesh Naik was being held at a hotel near Korlahalli village and to come and find him.
“I went with three church members on two motorbikes, and we were looking for such a hotel all the way and could not find one,” Arjun said. “Finally we found a mob swelling up in a temple, and that was where they kept him — and as soon as we reached the temple, they accused us of forceful conversion and started to attack me, Pastor Nagesh and the other three Christians.”
At a temple in Korlahalli village the Hindu extremists beat and kicked the Christians, threatened to set them on fire and tried to force them to worship Hindu idols.
Earlier some 200 Hindu extremists had stopped Naik as he made his way home after leading a worship service at a Christian’s home in Sugar Factory quarters, near Sharanahalli village, according to attorney Moses Muragavel. They then took Naik to the temple before calling Arjun, Muragavel said.
At one point during the ordeal, Arjun said, he kneeled down in a corner of the temple and began to pray.
Arjun received treatment for injuries to his right ear, back and nose, as did Naik for injuries to his head and neck, as well as bruises covering his body. The other three church members received minor bruises.
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