E-Paper
Chhattisgarh: Five more arrested in violence over religious conversion
Violence broke out in Narayanpur district in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region over alleged religious conversion on January 1
The Chattisgarh police on Sunday arrested five more persons in connection with a clash between two groups over alleged religious conversion in Bastar’s Narayanpur district.
Police said that a total of eight persons of Christian community and seven from tribal community have been arrested so far in connection with the violence that took place in Gorra village under Edka police station limits on January 1.
Sunderraj P, inspector general (IG) of police, Bastar range, said that five arrested have been identified as Premsagar Netam (48), Lacchu Karanga (32), Santuram Dugga (35), Punuram Dugga (45) and Rajman Karanga (46), all from Christian community and residents of Chiprail village, about 4 km from Gorra.
Lacchhu Karanga is said to be the pastor and used to visit Gorra village.
They were produced before a local court which sent them to judicial custody, the IG said.
Three cases were registered at Edka police station following complaints received from tribals, tribal Christians and police about alleged attacks on them, police said.
On January 2, a church was vandalised and six police personnel, including an IPS officer, were injured in Narayanpur during a protest by a group of tribals against the alleged religious conversion and the fight that took place on January 1.
Following the attack, police arrested five persons, including a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. On the same day, senior BJP leaders, including two MPs and a MLA, were stopped by police when they tried to enter the city to take stock of the incident.
The accused were identified as Rupsai Salaam (55), Pavan Kumar Nag (24), Atul Netam (24), Ankit Nandi (31) and Domendra Yadav (21). Salaam was BJP president of Narayanpur but a former BJP MLA of Narayanpur claimed that the protest was not organised by the BJP but it was a tribal protest.
Salaam, a resident of Remavand village, around 8 km from Gorra village, also leads a group called Janjatiya Gaurav Manch, a right-wing supported organisation, which started anti-Christian movement in Narayanpur way back in 2012.
