Following a congregation member’s surrender, the authorities are looking into the fatal attack on a Jehovah’s Witnesses gathering.
Three Jehovah’s Witnesses were killed and at least fifty others were injured in a series of explosions that occurred at a meeting on Sunday in the southern state of Kerala. Indian police have launched a high-level inquiry into the incident.
The incident happened during a Jehovah’s Witness prayer session in the town of Kalamassery, which drew more than 2,000 participants. A man going by the name of Dominic Martin uploaded a video to Facebook shortly after the attack, claiming credit for it.
Martin used the excuse that the organisation was “on the wrong track” for planting the device in the now-deleted confession video. Although he said he had been a part of the religious group for sixteen years, he “was not serious about it” and eventually lost patience with its “anti-national” beliefs.
“I figured that the organisation was wrong and its teachings were dangerous to the country when an entire congregation is taught, in abusive language, that the society is going to be destroyed, that we should not mingle with others or share food with others,” the man stated.
There are several reported casualties following explosions at an Indian church.
Read more Numerous fatalities following explosions at an Indian church
According to Martin, Jehovah’s Witnesses teach kids not to vote, sing the national anthem, enlist in the military, or take government jobs when they grow up. “I’ve made several attempts to fix this,” the man stated in the video. However, none of them were prepared to alter. Later, he turned himself in to the authorities.
According to Reuters on Monday, the public relations officer for the Kerala police stated, “He is in our custody but we have not recorded his arrest so far.” “It will take some time as we continue to investigate the accuracy of his statement.”
Additional questions about the authenticity of the “confession” were raised when a regional Jehovah’s Witness representative told Reuters he didn’t know if Martin was even at the gathering.
Martin’s landlord told India Today that the Covid-19 outbreak had caused him to lose his English teaching position. After that, he went to Dubai but came back to India two months ago. Martin was reportedly a “silent person” who did not socialise with his neighbours very often.
According to media reports, two of the bomb victims passed away on Sunday, while a 12-year-old girl who had suffered serious burns died on Monday morning from her injuries. The blasts may have been caused by an improvised explosive device that was placed inside a tiffin box, according to the local police. Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, declared that a 20-person police team has been assigned to look into the occurrence. To help in the investigation, a team of National Security Guard officers has also been sent from New Delhi to the bomb site.
Indian media sources state that police have increased security in New Delhi’s more populated neighbourhoods in the wake of the explosion. Mumbai police have also stepped up security and issued a high alert. The Mumbai Jewish centre Chabad House has likewise improved security.
The church bombing occurred just two days after a sizable pro-Palestine event in Kerala’s Malappuram district, which was arranged by the Solidarity Youth Movement, the party’s youth branch. Many members of the country’s ruling BJP party expressed their indignation at Khaled Mashal, the former head of Hamas, virtually attending the gathering. K Surendran, the head of the Kerala BJP, called the events “unacceptable” following the gathering. Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of India connected the state’s demonstrations to the spate of explosions.
