“They shook hands with him at first, then took him by his hand and, after few steps, they tied his hands behind his back with a rope,” she told Morning Star News. “I, my father-in-law and brother-in-law, followed after them, pleading and enquiring as to why they were taking him. They said they wanted to talk to him and that we need not worry, they will send him back in a little while.”

Family members continued to follow until the Maoists forcibly stopped them and pushed them away, throwing them to the ground, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

“Hardly five to seven minutes later, we heard a gunshot,” she said, weeping. “We immediately ran in the direction only to find the body of my husband in the pool of his blood, and the Maoists had gone. I wept bitterly; my husband was gone.”

Villagers upset with the growth of the church and the number of converts to Christianity from their native tribal religion incited Maoists to kill the pastor, though the assailants tried to give the impression that they killed him for being an informer, sources said.

The Maoists left a note in Pastor Tado’s pocket saying that he earned large amounts of money as a police informer against the militant insurgents, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

When police arrived to investigate, they told Christians that Pastor Tado was not an informer for them, and that they did not even know him, said pastor Vijay Kumar Vachami, a mentor and close associate of Pastor Tado.

“Villagers had sent three letters to Maoists at different times spreading false information about Pastor Tado to instigate them against him,” Pastor Vachami clarified.

Source and image: christianheadlines.com