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Bangalore: Bangalore-based Christian advocacy
group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has
strongly condemned the murder of the priest on July 30,
2009. They said Karnataka, ruled by the Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), recorded the
second most number of attacks against Christians in
2008. It is “second to Orissa where many have lost their
lives and homes.”
“Karnataka recorded at least 112 anti-Christian attacks
across 29 districts in 2008 and at least 10 more such
incidents have been reported this year,” Dr. Sajan
George, president of GCIC told earlier.
GCIC, and has called the CBI to investigate the case as
well as other attacks against Christians. “We are
shocked and dismayed in the brutal murder of Fr. James
Mukalel,” GCIC said in a statement. “This is the 33rd
incident of attacks against Christians in Karnataka in
the year 2009.”
The Catholic priest, Father James Mukalel, was found
murdered in a remote place on the side of a road in a
village near Mangalore in the southern Indian state of
Karnataka on July 30, 2009.
The father, 39, priest of the Belthangady diocese in
Karnataka, was killed when he was returning to his
parish, after attending the funeral of one of his
earlier parishioners in Thottathady village, Daiji.
 According to Fr. Thomas Kannankal, the diocesan social
work director, the death of the priest appears to be a
clear case of murder, as his body was found naked and
lying away from the motor bike he was riding. The body
did not bear any injury marks, Kannankal noted, but it
was apparent that someone suffocated him to death.
Mukalel was originally from the diocese of Tellichery
and had opted to work in Belthangady diocese.
Belthangady is a division within Dakshina Kannada, a
western coastal district of Karnataka facing Arabian
Sea.
Kannankal told UCA News that the priest served in
Kutrapady parish and had gone to Thottathady parish to
attend a funeral. After the funeral, he visited some
homes and ate dinner in a convent in the parish. He
started to head back on his motor bike at around 9 p.m.
on Wednesday, July 29, 2009.
Some parishioners noticed his naked body lying by the
roadside at around 7 a.m. on Thursday. Belthangady
diocese in Dakshina Kannada had reported some violence
against Christians in the past year and police are
investigating, the priest told.
Dakshina Kannada was in the news last year when the
Bajrang Dal in Karnataka’s Mangalore state attacked over
30 prayer halls in September. Fifty-three Christians
were injured.
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