Two Indian Christians attacked, survive by pretending to be dead

Two Christian evangelists were brutally attacked recently on a jungle road en route to an India village, and then were left in the dark because their six assailants thought they were already dead.

The victims, Mahindra Kharoley, 20, and Munshi Prasaad, 30, were attacked in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh. They were bicycling home to their village after a prayer meeting in Dunda Sivni 15 miles away. The attackers followed them on two motorbikes, then with their faces covered accosted the two, accused them of “forced conversion,” and beat them, Compass Direct News said.

The six men hit and kicked the two evangelists repeatedly. Bahey said, “They banged my head on the cement road and hit me hard with their boots on top of my head, splitting my forehead.” His clothes were soaked in blood and he had a deep gash above his eye on his forehead, and internal injuries, CDN said.

Kharoley said, “We lay motionless and pretended to be dead after they had beaten us about 20 minutes, to escape their fury.” He had internal body, chest and head injuries. His right thumb was nearly fractured, CDN said.

When the two played dead Bahey heard one attacker call another by the name “Mahesh,” saying, “They are already dead – let’s get out of here.” There was no moon and they were in pitch darkness 800 meters from their home village, CDN said.

The two managed to get back to their village where they were immediately rushed to a government health center, then a hospital. Although they had filed a complaint about the July 20 incident, the Kirnapur police have yet to investigate, CDN said.

Sub-Inspector Sandhir Chaudhary said he is busy with more important cases, and plans to look into the attack after Aug. 5.