Pastor in India attacked after praying for sick church member

A pastor was suddenly attacked by Hindu extremists in Medipally village in the state of Telangana on Jan. 27 after he prayed for the healing of an elderly church member.

Rev. Gandham Padma Rao, 49, had just left the home of an elderly church member who was just released from the hospital when young men blocked his way with their motorcycles, Morning Star News reported.

When Rao tried to avoid the men and began walking on the other side of the road, one of the attackers asked him, "Why are you coming to our village? Why are you praying here?"

"They spoke to me in vulgar language: 'You must never come to our village to pray. You should never enter our village,'" the pastor told Morning Star News.

He said that two men held him while the other punched and kicked him. He narrated that he tried to run, but the men caught up to him and kept on beating and kicking him. Rao recounted that one of the extremists tried to pick up a large stone and throw it at him.

Some residents, including a member of Rao's church, eventually heard his cries and came out of their homes. The church member said that the assailants were members of a nationalist group known as the Vishwa Hindu Vahini.

According to Rao's son, the authorities removed references to the nationalist group from his father's statement and described the attackers only as drunken wage workers.

Sub-Inspector P. Chandra Kumar declined to reveal the identity of the suspects, but some sources have identified the primary suspect to be Chandragiri Shiva Prasad.

Rao performed a baptism at his church the next day and conducted the Sunday service the following day, but he was taken to the hospital after he felt light-headed that afternoon.

The pastor was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Medilife Hospital, Mancherial after it was revealed that his blood pressure had risen to 200 over 140 mmHg.

Family members and visiting pastors believe that the attack against the pastor was planned as the assailants knew where to hit him so that there will be no bleeding but multiple contusions.

The attack on Rao came a week after an Indian evangelist suffered a brain hemorrhage after he was harassed by Hindu extremists in the same state.

K.A. Swamy, 47, fell into a coma just hours after the extremists threatened him with highly offensive language for distributing Bibles near a Hindu temple. He was also accused of trying to convert people in the temple area.