Pastor, Associates Beat Man to Death to ‘Exorcise Ghost’ in Punjab

Chandigarh: A Christian pastor and his associates beat a middle-aged man to death in the name of “exorcising the ghost that had entered his body and soul” at Singhpura in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.

The incident occurred on the intervening night of August 21 and 22.

According to a report in The Tribune, Rakha Masih, the mother of the deceased Samuel Masih, called a pastor to her residence as her son had developed some unusual complications. Pastor Jacob Masih arrived there with his accomplice Baljit Singh.

Both started thrashing Samuel claiming that a “ghost had taken possession of the man’s body and soul and it would exit only if he was kicked and beaten up”.

Samuel’s mother tried to intervene, Samuel kept on begging for mercy, but Jacob and Baljit continued to beat him ruthlessly. Later Jacob called up eight more accomplishes. All of them kicked and punched Samuel till he succumbed and his body was placed on a cot.

The moment Jacob got to know Samuel had died, he and his accomplices made good their escape.

Without informing the police, Samuel’s relatives buried him in the village cremation ground.

From some sources, cops got to know about the incident on August 24. Samuel’s body was exhumed in the presence of magistrate and was sent for a post-mortem at the Gurdaspur Civil Hospital after which it was again buried.

A police team is investigating the sequence of events leading to the death of Samuel. A case has been registered at the Dhariwal Police station.