HISAR (Haryana): A church under construction was demolished in Haryana’s Hisar district on Sunday. The miscreants even hoisted a flag with "Shri Ram" written at the site in Kaimri village , 10km from here.

Sources said villagers were angry over the priest’s alleged efforts to convert some of the local residents.

Police have registered a case against 14 people named by the priest and started investigation into the matter. But no arrests have been made so far.

A panchayat was held in the village and the members decided to take the issue to the deputy commissioner of Hisar district. They claimed the priest, Subhash, had bought the piece of land to build a house but started constructing a "Believers Church" instead.

"Believers Church" is a Christian denomination with congregations and parishes across the world.

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President of All India United Christian Front Sukhdev said, “This is a matter of shame that the villagers demolished a church. We will hold a press conference in Hisar soon and request the SP to take action against the culprits”.

Village sarpanch Dalbir Singh told TOI, “There is not even a single Christian family in Kaimri village. Priest Subhash is trying to convert some of the families by luring them with money, food and other facilities.”

“The villagers who have been booked by the police on the complaint of the priest were not involved (in razing the structure). The land where the church was being built was bought by him (priest) from some society and it had even issued a notice to him about the illegal construction of the church. The priest is engaged in occult practices for conversion,” Dalbir alleged.

Asked about the flag on the church wall, the villagers refused any knowledge about it. One of them said some children must have hoisted it.

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The priest skirted the issue when asked whether he had the permission to build the church, saying, “I am on my way to Ambala for some work. Our senior priest will talk about this matter. I was out when some villagers demolished the wall of the church. I informed the police, who registered a case against 14 people. The village has two or three Christian families.”

However, he refused to share contact details of his senior priest.

Mangali police post in charge and investigation officer Ramesh Kumar said, “A case has been registered against Anil Godara, Dalbir Singh, Rajkumar, Kuldeep, Satpal, Krishan Kumar, Suresh, Dinesh, Joginder, Kulwant, Sudhir, Bijender, Satyanaryan and Choturam. Police are probing the matter.”

DC of Hisar Chandershakher Khare, said, “No one has come to me so far with any complaint. However, I know about the incident and also that some villagers have met the local police with their complaint. Administration will take action according to law.”

The village is a stronghold of INLD.

