KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Gunmen shot and killed Salesian Father John Prakash early on the morning of July 1 at his residence in Sirsiya.

Masked men barged into the Salesian residence at about 2 a.m. and locked up one of the two priests, Father P.V. Matthew, while they beat up and shot Father Prakash, Salesian Father George Kalangara told UCA News by telephone from Dharan, about 55 kilometers from Sirsiya. Both are Salesian centers about 300 kilometers southeast of Kathmandu.

According to Father Kalangara, a pamphlet from the Nepal Defence Army (NDA) was found at the residence. The NDA, an extremist Hindu group fighting to restore Nepal as a Hindu state, has taken responsibility for several bomb blasts across Nepal since Nepal's parliament in 2006 declared the world's only Hindu country a secular state.

Father Prakash, 60, a missioner from Kerala state in southern India, was a member of the Salesian Province of Kolkata, also in India. He entered the Salesians in 1967 and was ordained a priest 10 years later. He was serving as principal of Don Bosco School in Sirsiya when he died.

Father Antony Earathara, Salesian provincial secretary in Kolkata, told UCA News in a written statement that the slain priest, listed in provincial records as Father Johnson Moyalan, "received two gunshots -- one in the chest and the other in the stomach."

Father Earathara also recounted the chain of events: A group of 4 or 5 armed men intruded into the mission premises and forced the watchman to take them to the presbytery. The men locked Father Mathew in his room from the outside and proceeded to Father Moyalan's room. "What transpired in the room is anyone's guess. The men left the place after about 15 minutes, throwing a couple of bombs," he said.

"Once the attackers had run away, some residents from nearby came over and freed Father Mathew from his room. When they went to Father Moyalan's room they were shocked to see him lying lifeless on the floor with blood oozing from beneath," he wrote. "The motivation of the killers is yet to be ascertained."

Father Earathara said the people whom the Salesians serve there "are mostly Santhal (tribals) and low-caste Hindus, who are in dire need of education and overall development."

He added that the funeral for the slain priest will take place at Our Lady of Happy Voyage Basilica in Bandel, near Kolkata, "in a few days' time."

Bishop Anthony Sharma, apostolic vicar of Nepal, told UCA News on July 1 that Father Prakash was a "wonderful man" and an "active social worker" involved in a number of social work projects in Sirsiya, where he stayed the past decade.

Bishop Sharma said further details of the murder were still to come, since telephone lines are unreliable due to the remoteness of the area. However, he said the NDA had three months ago asked the priests in Sirsiya to leave and threatened them with dire consequences if they failed to obey their orders. But that was "amicably" settled later, he said, without explaining.

On the other hand, Father Kalangara reported: "Recently the NDA invited the Salesian Fathers at Sirsiya for what they called a common meeting. The priests did not attend, and this could be a reason for the NDA to attack the priests."

Bikram Karki, assistant sub-inspector at the Morang district police office, confirmed to UCA News by telephone on July 1 that an armed group of about five men broke into the priests' residence and shot Father Prakash.

"Investigations are on and our team of policemen has gone to the site, about 25 kilometers from here," Karki said. "We will be in a position to say more only after the police team returns."

Salesian Father Augusty Pulickal, pastor of St. John Bosco Parish in Dharan, told UCA News a "huge crowd" has gathered at the priests' residence in Sirsiya and people are conducting prayers there.

Catholics in Sirsiya, who now number more than 300, depended on visiting Salesian priests living in Dharan for pastoral service until the priests decided 10 years ago to look after the village more regularly.

The Salesian priests in Sirsiya started the Don Bosco Nepali-language school in 2000 with 80 Catholic and other children studying in class one. A new school building was constructed and inaugurated in 2006.

END