Mob beats church members, kills pastor’s relative

MANDWA, India — A mob, allegedly led by a Hindu extremist group, demolished a house church and beat the pastor and church members Nov. 19 in Chhattisgarh state’s Bastar district. The following day, a young relative of the pastor was found dead in a nearby jungle. The attack on the house church belonging to the Christ Missionary Movement took place in Mandwa village near Jadgalpur area of Bastar. The body of 21-year-old Aayatu Kashyap, a Christian and distant relative of the church’s pastor, Suduru Kashyap, was found about nine miles from the village.
The superintendent of police of Bastar district, G.P. Singh, confirmed the incidents but denied that Hindu extremists were behind the attack, claiming local villagers unrelated to militant groups assaulted the Christians. He called the murder an unrelated incident.