Pastor Running Illegal Church in Pune Village Booked for Forcing Neighbouring Dalit Family to Convert

Pune, Maharashtra: On May 1, 2025, Rahul Maruti Gaikwad, a 39-year-old resident of a village in Pune district, approached the police with a complaint of attempts to forcibly convert him and his family.

Rahul alleged that seven men, including his next-door neighbour Prashant Jalindar Ghode, insulted his Hindu deities and beliefs when he tried to back them off.

The incident as recorded in the FIR

In his statement in the FIR, which Rashtra Jyoti has accessed, Rahul, who is a resident of Uchalevasti in Taklihaji area of Shirur Taluka, described the alleged sequence of events:

On the evening of May 1 around 7, Rahul was sitting outside his house with his wife and a friend named Somnath Laxman Kokane when Prashant Ghode, his long-time neighbour, arrived with six unknown men.

Prashant asked Rahul about his religion. Rahul responded: “You have known me since childhood. You know my religion.”

One of the visitors introduced himself as Moses David, a missionary, and began questioning Rahul about his familiarity with Christianity and Jesus. Rahul replied that he had never been to a church and had no desire to visit one.

The group then produced a Bible and asked if he had read it. Rahul said he read the Lilamrut Granth at home. They mocked his religious practice, questioning whether his gods – represented by murtis of Goddess Kalubai and Swami Narendra Maharaj – had ever helped him or his family.

Rahul said: “Everyone in my household follows Hinduism, and we have faced no harm because of our religion.”

The group then pressured him and his wife to worship Jesus, claiming it would cure their illnesses and solve financial problems. One of the men in the group, introducing himself as Amol Gaikwad, saif he had experienced miraculous healing of eye problems after visiting a church in Nagpur.

When the group continued pressuring the couple, Rahul used his friend Omkar Jadhav’s phone to call the police emergency number 112. Police officers soon arrived and took both parties to the Takali police outpost.

In his complaint, Rahul also stated that the group insulted Hindu deities and made derogatory remarks aimed at hurting religious sentiments. He alleged that their actions were aimed at disturbing communal harmony and sow discord between Hindus and Christians.

Rahul explicitly requested legal action against the group, stating: “Despite knowing that my wife and I are Hindus, they tried to persuade us to read the Bible and convert to Christianity by offering financial incentives. Their actions were aimed at creating discord and hurting our religious sentiments.”

Details of the police case

Based on Rahul’s statement, Shirur police in Pune filed a case (FIR (number 299/2025) under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023:

-Section 302: Deliberate wounding of religious sentiments through words, gestures, or objects.

-Section 196(1): Criminalising promotion of hatred or enmity between communities via speech or other means.

-Section 3(5): Addressing collective criminal liability when multiple individuals act with shared intent.

Seven men were named as accused, namely Prashant Ghode; Moses David from Nagpur; Amol Gaikwad from Nagpur; Yogesh Sambhudel Rakshat from Nagpur; Jesse Allister Anthony from Nagpur, Kunal Jitesh Bhavane from Bhandara; and Siddhant Sadar Kamble from Pune.

The Background: A decade of pressure

When Rashtra Jyoti reached out to Rahul for further details, he provided context beyond the FIR.

According to Rahul, the roots of this conflict go back over a decade, when his neighbour Prashant, a “crypto-convert”, constructed a “prayer hall” directly facing Rahul’s house. Over time, the hall became a centre for missionary activity, targeting impoverished Hindu families from the Matang and Dhangar communities.

Rahul is himself from the Matang community, which comes under scheduled castes in the state.

A picture of Jesus and a Cross was installed in the hall, and the venue gained local notoriety as a hub for conversion attempts.

Rahul, who is economically underprivileged and a father of three school-going children, described enduring relentless pressure to convert. “They tried everything,” he told Rashtra Jyoti. “False promises of miracles, threats, mental harassment. They even tried to exploit my children’s illnesses to lure me in.”

His children – a daughter in 9th grade and two sons in 6th and 8th – became inadvertent targets, he said. During times of sickness, members of the prayer group would arrive at his home, offering “help” wrapped in evangelical messaging.

Immediate trigger for the police case

The trigger for the FIR came earlier in the day on May 1, when an elderly woman in Rahul’s neighborhood passed away.

During the mourning rituals, villagers, including Rahul, requested the prayer hall to pause its loudspeaker broadcasts, which were blaring sermons asserting the supremacy of ‘Yeshu’. As per Rahul, despite multiple appeal between 11 am and 3 pm, the centre refused to stop the broadcasts.

Rahul told Rashtra Jyoti that this was not the first time. The prayer hall had a pattern of scheduling loud sermons on major Hindu festivals like Gudhi Padwa and Ram Navami, using loudspeakers to proclaim exclusivist religious claims.

‘This time, I decided I wouldn’t stay silent,’ Rahul said. “I protested and raised my voice outside the centre.”

In the evening, the same group visited his home. This confrontation led Rahul to seek immediate police help, he said.

Village panchayat intervened

Shortly after the incident, a village panchayat was convened. According to Rahul, the panchayat passed a resolution instructing converted Christians in the village to refrain from active religious propagation that could disturb social harmony.

Current Status: Police action and ongoing threats

Rashtra Jyoti called up Shirur police station yesterday. The police officer who answered the call said that all seven men were arrested that time but received bail from the sessions court within a week. The officer said that he could not reveal further details as the matter is under investigation.

The officer said that the prayer hall was temporarily closed, but he had no information whether it was still operational as there was no complaint against the centre itself.  

Rahul, meanwhile, remains steadfast despite the risks.

He told Rashtra Jyoti that he continues to receive threat calls on his phone, allegedly from individuals associated with missionary networks. He confirmed that his neighbour is out on bail.

“I won’t back down,” he said. “This is about protecting our Dharma and our community.”

He admitted that his stance has made him a symbol of resilience among many residents in his village, and that is his biggest support.