A man whom a pastor had led to faith in Christ stabbed him to death in Punjab, India, on Oct. 8, sources said.
Pastor Balwinder Pal died inside his home, which also served as his church venue, in the Gandhi Camp area of Batala, in Punjab’s Gurdaspur District. He was 42.
For the past seven years Pastor Pal, known as Laddi, lived alone and led The Gospel Khush Khabri Fellowship Church (“Khush Khabri” means “Good News”) from the house. He had shared the gospel with about 60 people, and one of them was Naresh Kumar.
On the morning of Oct. 8, Kumar arrived at Pastor Pal’s house and asked him to pray for him.
“When Laddi closed his eyes to pray, Naresh slashed his throat with a sharp cutter,” a close friend of the pastor who lives in the area told Christian Daily International. The friend requested anonymity for security reasons.
Kumar, a painter by trade, carried a heavy-duty utility knife commonly known as a box cutter, the friend said.
Neighbors rushed Pastor Pal to Batala Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Possible Motives
Police arrested Kumar, who is missing one arm, within four hours of the murder based on his appearance in CCTV footage. Officers told local media that Kumar’s wife attended Pastor Pal’s church, that Kumar objected, and that this dispute led to the killing.
As police led him away, Kumar told reporters that he had lent Pastor Pal 20,000 rupees ($210) and had gone to collect the money. He said the two argued – he did not say it was about the money – and that he stabbed the pastor in a fit of rage.
A reporter asked Kumar why he had visited his wife’s workplace before going to see Pastor Pal and whether he had also intended to kill her. Kumar angrily replied that she had left for work without leaving him any food, so he had gone to confront her.
While the investigation continues, some Christian leaders in Batala said they believe Kumar suspected his wife of having an affair with Pastor Pal. The Agape Pastors Association Batala has roundly rejected that suspicion.
Bishop Joginder Pal, founder and overseer of The Gospel Khush Khabri Fellowship Church, told Christian Daily International that Pastor Pal shared the gospel with Kumar and his wife two or three years ago. The couple then came to faith and began attending his church.
“Recently, Naresh left Balwinder’s church and joined a branch of Ankur Narula Ministries of Jalandhar, and he was pressuring his wife to follow him,” Bishop Pal said. “She refused to leave. She told him they owed Balwinder their loyalty.”
Pastor Pal’s friend added that Kumar’s wife sometimes brought meals to the pastor because he lived alone.
“To force his wife out of Balwinder’s church, Naresh started harassing her and accusing her of having an affair with him,” the friend said. “He also picked fights with her whenever she didn’t serve him a fresh, hot meal. He would tell her she was happy to feed Balwinder but not her own husband.”
The friend of the pastor believes Kumar’s own statement to reporters points to the real motive. On the morning of the killing, his wife had not cooked for him, so he went to the government childcare center where she worked and argued with her. From there, the friend said, Kumar went straight to Pastor Pal’s house, fully intending to kill him and settle his score with his wife.
Bishop Pal described the slain pastor as a humble, sincere man of integrity.
“Our Pastors Association takes firm action against any pastor whose conduct is not upright,” he said. “We have disciplined certain pastors in the past because we cannot allow anyone to tarnish the name of our Christian community. Balwinder never showed even the slightest misconduct.”
Police Case and Funeral
The same day as the slaying, Civil Lines police registered a First Information Report at the complaint of Pastor Pal’s brother Mohinder Pal under First Information Report (FIR) No. 316. Police booked Kumar for murder and common intention under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, India’s criminal code.
Pastor Pal was the only Christian in his family, which is why he lived alone in the house where he held services. After his death, his brothers insisted on claiming his body and cremating him according to Hindu tradition.
Bishop Pal and several other Batala pastors met with the Station House Officer, the police official in charge of the Civil Lines station and asked him to release the body to the Christian community for a Christian funeral and burial.
“The officer asked us to avoid any dispute with Balwinder’s family, since they were already in shock over his murder,” Bishop Pal said. “Police released the body to his family, and they cremated him on an open pyre.”
Every member of Pastor Pal’s congregation came to Christ from another faith, his friend told Christian Daily International. Between 25 and 30 people attended Sunday services, and Pastor Pal led about 60 people to faith in his own neighborhood and in nearby areas where he ministered.
“He served in an area overrun by crime and sin,” the friend said. “Not a single person there followed Christ when he began his ministry seven years ago.”
Batala’s Christian community has taken Pal’s funeral rites hard.
“Balwinder chose Christ over his own family,” Bishop Pal said. “Yet at his cremation, people chanted mantras and presented him as a non-Christian in front of believers who sacrifice so much to follow Christ. Where is the dignity in that?”
Members of the Agape Pastors Association Batala were grieving that they could not give Pastor Pal a Christian burial. Bishop Pal said that one member from the Malhotra family plans to go before the District Magistrate and state in writing that he wants a Christian funeral when he dies. He will give one copy to the association and another to his family. Other members agreed to take the same step to protect their own wishes.
Pastor Pal is survived by a teenage son and daughter. They live with their mother, who separated from him three years ago.
