Hyderabad, June 3: When pastor G. Daniel was murdered in the city on May 21 by having acid poured down his throat, police had laughed off a claim of responsibility by a Hindu extremist group with a weird name.

But with the mutilated body of another pastor, Isaac Raju, surfacing in a gunny bag yesterday ? two days after Vishwa Hindu Parishad secretary Ashok Singhal’s visit to the city ? they have had second thoughts.

The finger of suspicion points to an outfit in Warangal, the Anti-Christian Forum, that has been issuing threats to Christian missionaries and accusing them of converting tribals.

The forum had claimed it had killed Daniel, pastor of Rock Church in the city’s Mehdipatnam locality, but the police had dismissed that as a prank or a publicity stunt.

This evening, police raided RSS offices in Hyderabad, Warangal and Karimnagar and rounded up 16 activists. In Hyderabad, three BJP workers were also picked up.

The police said they were also questioning RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders who have been protesting against alleged conversions by missionaries. Special teams have been sent to Warangal town and Medak, near Hyderabad, to investigate the crimes.

Officers say the killings have similarities with the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines, who was burnt alive with his two children in neighbouring Orissa six years ago. Eleven people convicted in the case were recently acquitted on appeal and prime accused Dara Singh had his death sentence commuted to a life term.

Like Staines and his children, both the priests killed in Andhra Pradesh were alone and helpless when they were attacked, the police said.

“We have sent out alerts on the whereabouts of members of the Anti-Christian Forum and also the followers of Dara Singh,” said Mahender Reddy, Cyberabad commissioner of police.

When Isaac Raju, pastor of a church near Mehdipatnam, failed to return home on May 19, his wife had filed a police complaint. His body, mutilated and tied with a rope, was found in a gunny bag at a deserted spot on the Golconda Fort premises, a few kilometres from Rock Church.

The All-India Christian Council had on June 1 expressed concern over the disappearance of the pastor and the threats issued recently to missionaries in districts such as Warangal, Khammam and Mehboobnagar.

Reverend G. Samuel, the president of the council’s state unit, has accused Ashok Singhal of making “irresponsible” remarks relating to alleged conversions in the state.

Police officers said conversions have not only driven a wedge between Christians and Hindus but also divided the Christians themselves. Many Dalit converts are refusing to jettison their caste identity to retain the advantage in the race for government jobs, thus annoying other Christians.