ICC Note:

The accused killer of a pastor in Jharkhand, India claims the killing was not religiously motivated. On May 6, Pastor Abraham Surin’s body was discovered under a bridge. Local Christians quickly blamed the murder on the activities of radical Hindu nationalists who had been actively assaulting Christians in the area leading up to the murder. Now the individual accused of killing the pastor, Mohammad Hussain, says that the murder was about money and not religion. Still, many questions surrounding the murder have yet to be answered and some local Christians still believe their may be a religious motive. 

6/6/2016 India (Christian Daily) – On May 6, Rev. Abraham Biswas Surin’s mutilated body was found in the part of northeastern India where Christian persecution from Hindu nationalists is common. Mohammad Hussain admitted he was the one who slit the throat of the 64-year-old Christian pastor, but he said he had no religious motive for the crime, the Morning Star News reports.

Church leaders in Jharkhand say Pastor Surin’s murder marks a new development in Hindu militants’ crackdown on Christians in the region. The gruesome killing of the pastor came on the heels of several reported attacks against Christians in the area, Bos News Life relays.

Less than two weeks before Rev. Surin’s body was found in a drainage area under a bridge in the state of Odisha, authorities arrested Hussain in his house. He reportedly confessed to the crime and said he did because the pastor of Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church had been continuously demanding for him to repay a loan amounting to US$164.

Near Surin’s dead body, authorities found a bloodstained dawali, a weapon resembling an axe. Aside from his cut throat, his body sustained several other injuries on his chin and head.

The day before he was found dead, Surin left his house for a meeting in Ranch. Witnesses reportedly saw him with a tall man, which was later confirmed to be Hussain.

“So far, we do not see any angle of persecution to the incident here related to either the pastor’s religious or tribal identity,” an unnamed Christian leader told Morning Star in an interview. “It seems to be more of a personal issue,” he continued.

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