Christian councilor hacked to death in India

A Pentecostal Christian who served as a councilor in the town of Padappai in Chennai, India, was chased down and hacked to death by five men inside a church last Sunday.

The victim, G. Dhanasekaran, was attending the service at the Devasabha Church when he received a call at 11:30 a.m., Times of India reported. He was surrounded by five men armed with sickles when he went outside the hall to answer his phone. He ran to the nearby church to get away from the men but they followed him inside and killed him.

The gang reportedly escaped using three motorcycles. Dhanasekaran's body was sent to the Pallavaram government hospital for postmortem investigation. The victim was a realtor also involved in the sand business.

Police speculated that Dhanasekaran chose to run to another church because it was more crowded. They suspect that the motive for the killing was to prevent him from filing a nomination for the local elections which he was scheduled to do the next day.

"We are also trying to find out whether there was any business rivalry which could have resulted in the murder," said the investigating officer to The Times of India.

The authorities also investigated whether the phone call was made to lure the victim out of the church. They are now conducting a manhunt for the killers based on eyewitness descriptions.

According to Fides, Dhanasekharan was a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK) and a board member of a small local town hall.

Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), suspected that Dhanasekharan was killed because he was a Christian.

"This killing is yet another proof that Christian minorities are particularly vulnerable," he told Fides. "The trail of aggression carried out by Hindu militants to the detriment of the Pentecostal faithful is known. Police are investigating but we believe Dhanasekharan was also killed because of his faith," he added.