More than six months after police in southern India dismissed the death of a pastor as a road accident, Christians in the region say there is strong evidence the continually threatened evangelist was murdered.
Pastor Praveen Pagadala’s body was found on the side of the road near Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh state, on March 25. Police asserted he had been driving drunk, ignoring Christians’ statements that he never drank and received incessant threats on his life from Hindu nationalists.
Andhra Pradesh police have not filed a chargesheet for murder as they declared the death of the 45-year-old pastor a result of a road accident.
The body of the pastor that Christians discovered showed no signs of injury except to his bloodied and bruised head, and he always wore a helmet, they said. His 350cc motorbike, showing no signs of damage from a crash, lay atop his lifeless body.
Christians also found shoe marks on his clothes, indicating he may have been kicked, along with wood splinters and bloodstains nearby.
The day before, on March 24, Pastor Pagadala had told his wife and two daughters that he was going to attend prayer meetings in Andhra Pradesh.
“He told his wife that he may not return alive and to be strong in the Lord and continue the ministry even after his death,” said a close friend who requested anonymity. “He always did that before stepping out of his house, since he constantly received death threats. Every other day, there was a phone call threatening his life. Yet he continued the ministry fearlessly.”
Videos of his talks exposing caste discrimination against Dalits had stirred up Hindu nationalists, he said, adding, “his talks exposed their vindictive agenda. Praveen Anna [Telugu word for elder brother] was someone who would call a spade a spade fearlessly.”
Dalits, once known as “untouchables” whose societal status was so low they were excluded from the caste system, constitute a high percentage of Christians in India.
The source said Pastor Pagadala was the subject of many hateful comments on YouTube.
“He always received hate comments from both Islamic and Hindu fundamentalists for…exposing their lies and myths,” the source told Morning Star News. “Anna spent days and nights studying and researching to answer their questions with facts. Ultimately, he would use these platforms as an opportunity to share gospel.”
Many young people seeking answers about religion found answers and received Christ, he said, adding, “But Anna was hated by the religious heads of those groups.”
Media appeared to help cover up the alleged murder, with regional Telugu channels broadcasting CCTV footage showing a person purchasing alcohol at liquor stores and identifying him as the pastor, even while police were investigating. Though Christians said the person looked nothing like Pastor Pagadala, the news outlets identified him as the pastor and reported that his drunk driving led to accidental death.
“Ask anybody close to Anna, that person in the video footage does not resemble him at all,” said a close associate who had been a disciple of the evangelist for more than five years. “We know Anna’s body language, his gestures, how he behaves, walks, we know him so well as a person. They have planted a person, put on clothes similar to his, and released the footages deliberately to mislead us from what really happened.”
The source said the pastor did not drink. When Pastor Pagadala received invitations to deliver talks, he would usually go alone on his motor-bike from his Hyderabad residence.
“He had a handful of people working under him, always around him, but he would not bother them to accompany him,” the source said. “Whenever I told Anna that he must let somebody accompany him, he would reject it, saying, ‘They have families and loved ones back at their homes. I don’t want to put their life at risk. I don’t know when I would be killed.’ He anticipated persecution, and he was actually prepared, ready for it.”
His wife and close associates lost contact with him hours before his body was found by the roadside in Kovvur, near Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state, he said.
“They monitored his journey via phone until they lost contact with him,” he said. “We strongly suspect that it was a sketch [planned ambush]. The people who sketched out this attack had very cleverly planted sufficient evidence to show it as road accident. They are experts clearly. It appears Anna was intercepted by goons deployed by Hindu fundamentalist leaders. They are backed by the ruling nationalist BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]. It was a well sketched out and executed attack to eliminate Anna.”
Eluru Range Inspector General GVG Ashok Kumar claimed Pastor Pagadala purchased alcohol three times and was involved in three separate accidents during his journey from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry on March 24. The police officer told media that the Forensic Science Lab examined four vehicles that passed on the accident site and ruled out any collision as there were no dent marks.
“Pagadala was travelling at a speed of 70 km per hour, and there was no sign of impact on any vehicle,” Kumar reportedly said.
Police claimed the accident near Rajahmundry resulted in Pastor Pagadala’s bike skidding off the road, resulting in fatal injuries. Kumar said that when the pastor fell at Ramavarappadu, a town about two hours from the site where the pastor’s body was found, a driver of a passing three-wheel vehicle informed Traffic Sub-Inspector Subba Rao, who offered Pastor Pagadala tea and advised him to rest, but that he continued his journey.
Kumar also stated that Pastor Pagadala was already drunk after buying alcohol in Nagole. The close associate of the pastor said this explanation was absurd.
“Which police officer offers tea to a heavily intoxicated person who just committed a road accident?” he said. “Without filing a case and taking the accused into custody, police offer tea and advise him to rest? And let him go? Really? That too, an officer of the rank of SI not arresting and advising to rest. Not even constable. That’s enough to question the fairness of investigation conducted by them.”
Officers reportedly claimed that a post-mortem report stated he died due to severe head trauma and multiple injuries.
“Many facts surrounding Anna’s death have been left hidden by the police investigation,” the source said. “I will ask a simple question: How can there be injuries on the head of a person wearing helmet if he fell on the road side? If it was really an accident, why are there no injuries anywhere else on his body? At least scratches and bruises? Nothing.”
Another source suspected Pastor Pagadala was ambushed by members of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
“He was intercepted by goons belonging to RSS leaders, they ambushed and took him away,” the source said. “He was injected with high doses of certain drugs to intoxicate him. They kicked hard on his head, bruising him. Meanwhile, they planted false evidence by deploying another goon in similar clothes making UPI transactions from Pagadala’s phone. He stopped answering calls and suddenly went unreachable after those transactions.”
Pastor Pagadala was a passionate and experienced motorbike rider, he said.
“He never missed wearing a helmet as safety gear and took utmost care while on road,” he said. “He would never put other lives at risk by colliding so many times, and riding while the lights blinked. If there was really any such problem, he is fully aware that we are present in surrounding areas and just a call away anytime. They have ambushed him and took him, away, and he was found dead by the roadside within hours.”
In 2019-20, when prayer meetings were to be held in Kovvur and surrounding areas, Pastor Pagadala requested all close associates to pray as he was receiving death threats, he said.
“Anna said, ‘People there are against us. Meetings have to be conducted in that area. There is great opposition, and we need to keep praying,’” he said.
The severe opposition and threats to his life compelled Pastor Pagadala to move with his wife and two daughters to the United States in 2022-2023, where he was working on documentation to immigrate.
“There, his elder daughter questioned Anna, ‘Dad, you always say that our God is king. Then why did we move here fearing persecution by those people? Our King God will not protect us in India?’” the source said. “Anna immediately returned to India and continued the ministry.”
Back in India, his ministry increased in multiple ways. He built a home in the suburbs of Hyderabad for destitute and abandoned women, and a Muslim who came to paint the house also received Christ after interacting with the pastor and observing him closely, the source said.
“If we hired anybody for any work, their interactions with Anna would be such that they later testified they had not known Christ but saw Him through Anna’s conduct and his words,” he said.
Court Case
Dr. K.A. Paul, an evangelist and politician, in April registered a case with the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking an investigation into the death of Pastor Pagadala by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI is a government agency responsible for investigating offenses such as corruption, bank fraud, murders and other serious cases. The high court agreed to hear the case on condition of a deposit of 500,000 rupees [$5,635 USD], Paul said.
“A counsel appeared representing the government, but she submitted that a chargesheet was not filed in the case, that it is a road accident case and does not require further investigation,” Paul told media. “I have sought for an opportunity to approach the appropriate authority and withdrawn the case.”
After Paul withdrew the case, the high court disposed of it on Sept. 17.
During a public meeting (Prajavedhika), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandra Babu Naidu claimed that some miscreants were conspiring to defame his government by portraying the natural death of a pastor near Rajahmundry as murder.
“If they continue to attempt to politicize this incident to smear mud on me, I will not spare them easily,” Naidu reportedly said.
Another Christian who requested anonymity said it was unusual that such a case had drawn the attention of the chief minister.
“Why should a person of the stature of a Chief Minister be offended by concerns of hundreds of thousands of Christians across the country?” the Christian said. “That clearly shows that it’s a high profile murder case, and the actual culprits have been given a cover. They must be so powerful that nobody wants the investigation to go beyond that swift SIT [Special Investigation Team] report which concluded death by road accident under the influence of alcohol.”
The Christian was baffled that so many leaders in India had become “so touchy” about the case.
“All we demanded was a fair investigation, not a report culminating out of false footage played by media,” the source said. “A CBI enquiry can be demanded by filing a petition – why not? I can disagree with your investigation and seek an enquiry. What is wrong in that?”
The pastor’s family and close associates have never seen him consuming alcohol, the source said
“Go through the comments on YouTube under speeches by Praveen Pagadala, and you find Hindu and Islamic fundamentalist handles openly threatening to kill him and his family,” the Christian told Morning Star News. “Even Pagadala openly shared on occasions about threats to his life.”
Pastor Pagadala had filed a Writ Petition questioning the validity of anti-conversion laws in India. At present 12 states in India have enacted such laws against forceful or fraudulent conversion, often misused to prosecute innocent Christians.
Pastor Pagadala was famously known for mentoring Christian youths to lead their lives according to biblical principles and the work for Christ’s Kingdom.
“He had mentored hundreds of young Christians to build their career and become financially independent,” the close associate of the pastor said. “Under brother’s mentorship, I was inspired to build a sustainable livelihood project in my village in Telangana.”
On his speaking engagements, the pastor never demanded accommodation or hotel rooms while traveling, another source said.
“He never asked for offerings,” said the source. “He would sleep on the floor finding a small space in between the volunteers. He would also not demand blankets or bedsheets. He humbled himself to that great extent and lived as one among us.”
The pastor’s widow, Jessica Pagadala, delivered a message of gratitude and forgiveness at his funeral, stating, “We are not here to seek revenge. We are here to preach, teach his kingdom…We are here to forgive everybody.”
Christian support organization Open Doors ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. India stood at 31st place in 2013 but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi came to power as prime minister.
Religious rights advocates blame the increasingly hostile rhetoric of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which they say has emboldened Hindu extremists in India since Modi took power in May 2014.
