Tezpur/Guwahati, Sept. 4: Sonitpur police today claimed to have identified “some” members of the group that killed Father Mathew Nellickal, the vicar-general of the Tezpur diocese, but said they might take up to four more days to arrest any of the killers.

“We have identified a few persons who we suspect are behind the killing. But we would not like to divulge their identities at this juncture,” Sonitpur superintendent of police Apurba Jiban Baruah said.

Baruah returned to Tezpur from New Delhi late last night after news of the gruesome murder reached him.

He said the investigation team would require at least three more days “before we can nab the culprits”.

The SP was in Delhi to attend a conference of superintendents of police and deputy commissioners convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

A worried Dispur has also directed the deputy inspector-general of police (northern Assam range) to conduct an inquiry into the killing.

Sources said the state government was taking the matter seriously as it did not want the issue to cause embarrassment to the ruling Congress ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

Sixty-five-year-old Father Mathew Nellickal’s body was recovered from inside a storeroom yesterday at Bishop’s House with multiple stab wounds. Police suspect he was murdered the night before.

Police believe that the assailants had fled through the Brahmaputra, which flows along the northern side of Bishop’s House.

The body of the clergyman was kept at the Borgang Catholic Hospital, where a large number of people of the community paid their last respects to him. Special prayers were also held today at the Tezpur Catholic Church.

A Tezpur diocese official said Fr. Nellickal’s family members will arrive on Tuesday. The bishop, who is in Rome, has also been informed of the incident and is coming back as “soon as possible”.

A spokesperson for the Catholics Bishop Council of India, Babu Joseph, said over phone that the apex body of Catholic churches had discussed the incident with V.V. Augustine, a member of the National Commission of Minorities in New Delhi.

“We are yet to ascertain the reason behind the dastardly killing of the official and have urged the state government to identify the culprits,” Joseph said.

“This is a disturbing development for the community as only a few months back a similar incident had happened in Patna. This is certainly part of an overall hate campaign against the minorities,” he claimed. He said support would be garnered from civil rights groups in protest against the killing.

Relatives of the padre will decide after consultations with church officials whether his funeral will be held at Tezpur or whether his body would be flown to his home in Kerala’s Kottayam district.