Orissa government on Thursday decided to ask the police to probe the death of Catholic priest Bernard Digal
BHUBANESHWAR: Orissa government on Thursday decided to ask the police to probe the death of Catholic priest Bernard Digal, who was allegedly injured during communal violence in Kandhamal, at a Chennai hospital.
"As the government wanted to clear doubts over the reason behind Father Digal's death, it decided to hand over the probe to the state's profesisonal investigative agency," a senior home department official said.
The official clarified this was the only reason why the police took the body of Father Digal to Capital hospital for postmortem as soon as it arrived at the airport.
While some Christian leaders claimed on Wednesday that Digal succumbed to injuries sustained during the communal violence on August 25, another report claimed that the priest died of dengue on the night of October 28.
The archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Raphael Cheenath had described Digal as a "martyr" for the faith.
"The Bangalore-based Catholic News Service in a report claimed that Digal died of dengue fever", pointed out a senior police officer adding the police in Kandhamal had rescued him from a forest in critical condition.
"The local police had rushed Father Digal to a nearby government hospital and then taken him to the district headquarter hospital at Phulbani", said Kandhamal Superintendent of police Praveen Kumar.
The police, he said, had helped to shift him to a hospital in Bhubaneswar.
Meanwhile, the Vicar general of Bishop's House, Bhubaneswar, Father Joseph Kalathil, said that Father Digal died of cardiac arrest.
Refusing to comment on whether Digal's death was linked to Kandhamal violence, Kalathil said it was a fact that the deceased priest was under constant fear due to a brutal attack on him.
"Remaining under threat for a long period could have been one of the reasons behind Digal's death", Kalathil said adding the 48-year-old priest had suferred a lot in the violence.
Father Joseph Kalathil said the Christian community did not want to create further confusion and they agreed to the proposal of the police to conduct autopsy on the body.
"Conducting postmortem is part of the legal procedure. Therefore, we agreed to the process", Kalathil said adding the body would be kept at the Bishop's house, Bhubaneswar, before being laid to rest here on Friday.
The community also dropped the idea of taking Digal's body to his native place at Raikia for funeral in order to avoid further tension in troubled Kandhamal district.
The local police had no knowledge on the cause of Digal's death, who died two months after getting injured during the violence.
"No complaint was lodged with the police in connection with the attack on Father Digal", the superintendent of police said.
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