ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Murdered priest's body recovered

The body of Father Arul Doss, the slain parish priest of the Roman Catholic church at Anandpur, was retrieved from Jamubani village in Mayurbhanj district and brought to Anandpur in Keonjhar district today.

Doss was murdered by a tribal gang armed with bows and arrows on the night of September 1 in Jamubani village, located in a dense forest 15 kilometres from the Mahuldiha police station.

The priest had gone to Jamubani with two others to attend a festival organised by the local tribal Christians.

According to the diocese of the Balasore Roman Catholic church under whose jurisdiction the Anandpur parish functions, Doss's body will be brought to Balasore today for the last rites.

According to reports received in the state capital Bhubaneswar, the miscreants attacked the priest while he was asleep inside the makeshift church along with one Katesingh Khuntia.

Doss was first attacked with staves. The attackers then shot him with arrows.

The attackers also burnt the makeshift church before fleeing.

Khuntia was also attacked, but he escaped and later lodged a complaint at the Sarat police station.

Darshan Birua, who had also accompanied the pastor, escaped as he was dancing with the tribal Christians who were celebrating the nuakhai (harvest) festival in the village.

There are only 14 Christian families in the village. Some more tribal Christians from the neighbouring villages had joined them for the function.

Father Arul Doss, who hails from Tamil Nadu, came to Orissa five years ago and was initially posted at the Labanyadeipur church under Sarat police station.

The area has a large population of converted tribal Christians. Since Father Doss was very unpopular among the local non-Christian people he was transferred to the Roman Catholic church at Sarangi under Anandpur sub-division of Keonjhar district.

The priest used to visit the villages of Mayurbhanj district under Mahuldiha police station at regular intervals as he was popular among the tribal Christians there.

Although it was not immediately known why the Catholic priest was made a target, sources said the cultural conflict between the converted tribal Christians and the non-converted tribals could be a possible reason.

The Christians of Jamubeni were so frightened that they were unable to divulge anything about the incident fearing further attacks.

The police have launched house- to-house searches in the nearby villages to try and nab the criminals involved in the gruesome murder. A police dog was also brought in but it could not trail the miscreants due to heavy rains yesterday.

Mayurbhanj District Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kapoor, District Collector R Balkrishnan, Special Inspector General of Police (law and order) Amarananda Patnaik and Deputy Inspector General of Police (western range) Binaya Behera have all rushed to the area along with a posse of armed police and started the investigation.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report