Rajesh, 27, and a Hindu friend, Tunguru Mallick, worked in Chennai, a southern Indian city. The two came back to Orissa for holidays and arrived at G. Udayagiri, a small town, on Aug. 24, not realizing Hindu groups had called for a statewide strike that day to protest Swami Saraswati's murder.
The town 220 kilometers west of Bhubaneswar, the state capital, is in Kandhamal. Bhubaneswar lies 1,745 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
As no transport was available, Rajesh and Tunguru decided to walk to Bataguda, their native village, about 60 kilometers further west from G. Udayagiri. However, a mob accosted the duo when they reached Paburia, about 12 kilometers into their journey, and demanded they identify themselves. As the two tried to talk, someone pulled a bible from Rajesh's bag.
The mob then began beating Rajesh, who fell down to the ground. While some continued to beat him, others dug a pit in a nearby field. As they dragged Rajesh toward it, he asked the attackers why they were burying him when he was still alive. They retorted, "Call your Jesus. He will save you." They then tied Rajesh, dumped him into the pit and covered it with mud.
Kamal said Tunguru, who watched the entire incident, recounted it all to him.
The extremists then turned to Tunguru, who kept insisting he was a Hindu. Nonetheless, they condemned him for befriending Christians, then poured kerosene on him and set him on fire. Tunguru fled to a nearby village where people helped douse the fire. According to Kamal, Tunguru suffered severe burns on his body.
Kamal said Rajesh's two younger sisters and an aged mother now live in a relief camp. Nobody has filed a police case over Rajesh's death, he added. Read
INDIA Priest Recounts Close Brush With Death In Orissa
By Dibakar Parichha
September 10, 2008 | IE05724.1514 | 667 words Text size 
Suresh Nayak's Story
"We lost everything, but the humiliating ceremony to disown our Christian faith still haunts me," Nayak told Catholic News Service at a refugee camp in Cuttack, about 20 miles from Bhubaneswar, Orissa's capital.
"They tonsured my head and made me drink cow dung water to purify me. We were also forced to write a declaration that we are becoming Hindus of our own (will) and giving up the Christian faith," he said.
Nayak said he and his family, as well as 20 more Christian families from Pirigurg village in Kandhamal district, fled to nearby jungles Aug. 24 after they were alerted that Hindu extremists were planning to target their village.
"They looted our houses and burned everything down," he said.
Nayak and several others returned to his village after local Hindu leaders, assuring them of their safety, invited them back for a peace meeting. But Hindu extremists had a different agenda and forced 13 Christian couples to attend the conversion ceremony.
While the men had their heads ceremonially tonsured as a mark of embracing Hinduism, the women were forced to eat sacred offerings to mark their conversion. Read
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