Hyderabad: The body of a pastor in southern India was found hung from the thatched roof of his house on Jan. 20, a week after he complained to police about opposition from Hindu extremists, sources said. He was 43.
Congregation members said they found the body of pastor Gideon Periyaswamy of Maknayeem Church hanging from a rope in his one-room house beside the church building in Adayachery village, Kanchipuram District, Tamil Nadu. His knees were found bent stiff, as if others had placed him in the noose after his death.
A convert from Hinduism 25 years ago, Pastor Periyaswamy was single and served as pastor in Adayachery for more than 12 years, his close friend, Pastor Azariah Reuben, told Morning Star News.
“The local Hindus were not happy with growing Christianity,” Pastor Reuben said. “They had several times tried to stop the ministry.”
At pastors’ meetings and on other occasions, Pastor Periyaswamy spoke of Hindu hostilities to his church services and requested prayer, he said. Pastor Reuben said that Pastor Periyaswamy once remarked, “I have no problem – if needed, if the Lord permits it, I would die as martyr for Christ, but the ministry should not stop.”
A deputy superintendent of police identified only as Rajendiran told Morning Star News that a week before his death, Pastor Periyaswamy had filed a complaint with police “on some village people troubling him.”
“Our investigation was underway, and now we found him dead,” Rajendiran said.
A congregation member identified only as Indira said that the previous Sunday (Jan. 14), Hindu extremists were upset about a car sitting outside the area designated for church parking.
“They pelted stones at the car, and the pastor made an announcement requesting the church members to park their vehicles within the church premises only,” she said.
For the past six months, the local hard-line Hindus have harassed the pastor every Sunday, Indira said.
“When they see the pastor, they laugh, giggle and crack humiliating jokes at him,” she said. “They would always look for something to pick a fight over. But pastor told us, ‘We should be at peace with our neighbors – let’s not give them a reason to fight.”’
Last year local Hindu extremists kicked and beat him, said Regina, another congregation member. She and Indira found the pastor’s body.
When they arrived on January 20 at 5 a.m. to clean the church building, they were surprised to find the pastor’s room bolted shut.
Regina said they opened the door and were shocked to find the pastor hanging. “A rope was fastened to the roof and tied to pastor’s neck, but his knees were slumped towards the ground. When the police came to unhang the pastor’s body, we saw a cut in his neck area. There was blood clotted.”
Police initially refused to file a complaint from congregation members, sources said. After church members and pastors from neighboring villages blocked a road in protest, his body was transported to Chengalpattu Government Hospital, where it has been placed in the hospital mortuary, Pastor Reuben told Morning Star News.
The Vanniyar community and other upper castes in Adayachery hate the lower caste of the pastor and his congregation, said Pastor Immanuel Prabhakaran, who worked with the deceased leader of the church, which belongs to the Synod of Pentecostal Churches.