Bhopal: A late night operation by police rescued two Christians, including a pastor, who were being tortured in captivity for eight hours in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The incident took place on July 21 in a village under Rewa district where Protestant pastor Ram Pal Kori has managed a church for the past 14-years.

“They tied me up on a tree and beat with wooden sticks besides thrashing and punching all over my body,” the pastor told mattersindia.com after he was rescued.

According to him, a mob of some two dozen men abducted him from the house of one of the members of his church where they were holding a special prayer meeting at around 8:30 night.

“They assaulted me and dumped me into a vehicle accusing me of indulging in religious conversion,” the 38-year-old pastor said.

After a 3-km drive, the attackers dragged him out of the vehicle and tied him to a tree in an isolated place. “During the drive they at the knife point forced me to recite slogans praising Hindu gods and goddess,” the pastor added.

They also brought another senior member of his church Nand Lal, 49, to the spot and beat him, the pastor added.

However, the abductors ran away as soon as they saw the police, who came to spot at 3 am.

Sub-Divisional Officer of Police of Mauganj tehsil Kamlesh Sharma confirmed the incident.

The officer told mattersindia.com that they are investigating the matter. He, however, refused to divulge any further details about the investigation.

Pastor Ram Yesh, another pastor of the church, told mattersindia.com that the two victims’ now writhe in pain as the bodies are covered with bruises.

The victims were brought to the police station from a hospital where they were taken for medical check-up for completing the formalities for registering First Information Report against their abductors.

They also recorded their statement before the police, Yesh said. “But still no one has been arrested yet,” he lamented.

Christians who constitute less than 1 percent of the Madhya Presh’s 70 million people have been facing constant assault and harassment from fringe groups associated with Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Singh.

Christians consider the fresh incident as just continuation of the ongoing assault against them.