Karnataka: Renaming of road behind church attack?

Bengaluru/Tumakuru: The petrol bomb attack on Tomlinson Church in Tumakuru early Thursday happened two weeks after a street close-by was renamed as Tomlinson Church Street, sources from the church told Deccan Chronicle. Some miscreants, who had taken objection to renaming the street, had vandalized the plaque installed near the street two weeks ago and the church authorities, who took notice of the same, were contemplating to lodge a formal complaint with the police, the sources added.

It could be one among those miscreants who may have hurled the petrol bomb on the main front door of the Tomlinson Church, affiliated to the Churches of South India (CSI), suspect church members. The eight decade old church, constructed in a Hindu temple style, has around 120 families enrolled in its community. The church remained closed after the incident.

Culprits at large
“We are working on multiple angles and will soon arrest the culprit. Since it’s a sensitive issue, we have to first look into the motive and then we have techniques to nab the person behind it. We are working on the case on priority,” said Seemanth Kumar Singh, IGP (Central Range).

Protest on Monday
On Friday, around 300 members from different churches across the town gathered at the Tumakuru Town Hall and observed fasting that from 10 am to 5 pm to protest against the attack. The gathering included Catholic priests and CSI pastors and from all denominations of Christianity who have also organised a massive protest on Monday.

“Christian educational institutions will remain closed on Monday and thousands of community members are going to have a huge rally at 10 am that day going from Tumakuru Town Hall to the District Commissioner’s office to hand over a memorandum demanding serious action against the culprit,” said Reverend Elizabeth, Presbyter, Tomlinson Church. “We will inform all our community members through Sunday prayer services and appeal all of them to show solidarity against religious attacks,” she added.

Attendant saved the day
The incident happened around 4 am. The CCTV installed in the front of the church has captured a masked man hurling ignited petrol-filled beer bottle at the front door of the church. “The miscreant had kept two beer bottles filled with petrol already near the front door. He then went out and stood behind the gate pillar and hurled the third bottle filled with petrol ignited at the door,” said Pradeep Kumar, a priest. If the church attendant had not come and doused the fire in time, the wooden door would have caught fire and it would have spread inside,” he added. Senior police officers along with district commissioner visited the Church on Thursday and promised the community members that stringent action would be taken against the culprits.