Boy alleges businessman of kidnapping, forcing to change faith

Mangalore, March 9: In a mysterious case, an 18 year old boy has accused a city based businessman of abducting him and forcing him to convert into Christianity.

The alleged victim Nithin, son of Damodar Poojary, a resident of Golithotte near Uppinangady, had been working at Cold House, a juice centre owned by one Radhakrishna in Kankanady for the past 20 days.

The boy, who has studied up to 10th Standard, on Wednesday approached Urwa police station along with his father and a group of people, closely associated with Sangh Parivar and lodged a complaint against one Jillu, a Christian businessman residing at Ashoknagar here.

The complainant has said that Jillu not only kidnapped him and kept him as a hostage at his house for almost a day, but also tried to convert him from Hinduism to Christianity using force.

“When I was walking towards my room from the shop at around 10:30 am on Tuesday, March 8, Jillu, who I know only as a customer at 'Cold House' came on a motorbike and asked me board the two wheeler, assuring that he will drop me to the room. However, after I sat, he changed the direction and took me to his house, where his wife and another woman were also there. Immediately after reaching there, Jillu slap on my face and asked me to change his religion and accept Christianity. When I declined, he pushed me into a room shouting that you will not get any food or water till you meet my demand,” the boy, who was standing with a BJP activist outside the police station, said.

He said, however, that he managed to escape from their clutches at around 7:00 am today (Wednesday), when Jillu's wife opened the door to wash her face after waking up from sleep.

Asked whether the boy had money when he escaped, Poojary said: “He had only Rs 5 in his pocket. He paid Rs 4 to the bus conductor and called me by using the remaining Re 1.”

“I picked him at State Bank bus stand,” he added.

One among the group of people accompanying the boy said that Jillu runs a catering service and also owns a juice shop.

Police have registered a case and assured action after conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations.