Click to play videoBhubaneshwar: More than two months since Father Bernard Digal was brutally attacked during communal violence in Kandhamal and two days after the 47-year-old died in Chennai, the Orissa Police has ordered a crime branch investigation on the attack and what led to his death.
The body of Father Digal was brought from Chennai to a church in Bhubaneshwar for the last rites.
Though medical reports suggest that he died of cardiac arrest, church authorities believe that he succumbed to the injuries sustained during the communal violence in Khandamal.
He was beaten with iron rods by a mob and left in the church naked and bleeding.
"His death is partially due to the injuries he suffered during violence. He was so badly beaten up that his entire body had wound marks," says Father Joseph Kalathil, Vecar General, Orissa.
Father Digal had wished that his last rites should be performed in his village at Raikia in Kandhamal but it could not be done due to security reasons.
The 47-year-old was born in Tiangia village under Raikia police station in Kandhamal district and he became a priest in 1992
"Since slowly peace is returning to Kandhamal, we do not want to make the situation tensed by carrying his dead body to Kandhamal," says Father Kalathil.
"I feel very sad that my brother's wishes could not be fulfilled. I myself have not seen my children for last two months who are in the relief camp. In such a situation how could we fulfill his wishes?" says Laxi Digal, elder brother of Father Digal
No action was not taken against the attackers becuase FIR was not filed. But now the Orissa DG has ordered for a crime branch investigation into the incident.
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