The police here on Friday booked four persons, including a foreign national, and interrogated them in an undisclosed location, who were allegedly attempting to motivate a group of Hindu Dalit people to adopt Christianity in Katasinghpur village under Palli Gram Panchayat, 10 km from here.
The police acted on a complaint from right-wing Hindu outfit Bajarang Dal activists who noticed the incident on Thursday night and informed the police. The police seized a Bolero jeep without a number plate, a copy of the Bible, some cash and medicines from the Christian preachers.
Bajrang Dal coordinator Suryakanta Nanda, who lodged the complaint at Jagatsinghpur police station, said, “On Thursday, a group of people converged in a house doing a prayer in Katasinghpur village. Over a dozen members of Bajrang Dal reached the spot and found that some gullible people had been lured and the proselytization work was going on. As we protested, they defended that they were performing a birthday celebration and doing a prayer, but we could not believe them and informed the police.”
Acting on the complaint, the police reached the spot and launched a probe after picking up four people for interrogation.