CHENNAI:What should have normally been a tranquil Sunday worship service at the Apostolic Christian Assembly (ACA) at Purasaiwalkam turned into a bizarre hostage drama — when the congregation locked their presiding pastor in a room behind the altar, for over 15 hours. Despite the police arriving at the scene and attempting to free the man, the church-goers stood firm and refused to even let them enter their metal-gated premises.
Why all this drama at a place of worship? According to a member of the congregation, their chief pastor M K Sam Sundaram — who at 77 has been ailing and bed-ridden for the past few years — is purportedly being “slowly done for” by their current flock leader Caleb Joshua. As the patron of ACA’s nearly 500 member churches and its purported Rs 1,000 crore estate, they had a strong belief Sundaram was being kept from the church for financial gain.
An emotionally charged member explained, “He has been forcing our pastor to consume neurosis-inducing drugs. Recently, news made its way into church member circles that Sam Sundaram’s kidneys had failed, and that he was on the threshold of death, so we decided to act.” Stymied by the lack of response from the police, they decided to use force. “We had filed complaints with the police nearly a year ago, when Joshua first started to deny us access to our pastor. But no action was taken,” said another member.
After a final confrontation, Joshua was locked up in a room inside the premises of the church. Through all the drama that ensued, the church service went on. Witnesses related how a police battalion from Vepery arrived to control the situation, and the AC arrived to talk peace. After nearly four hours of discussion, the police relented — senior police personnel took three church members to Caleb’s house on Taylor’s Road to check Sam Sundaram’s health. A police officer confirmed that they made the visit. Even past midnight about 500 members remained unrelenting. A church member, who was still sticking it out, told Express over phone, “There was some heated argument between the police and our members and they attempted to enter the church forcibly. But we pushed them out and shut the gates. We will continue to pray inside until our pastor is returned to us.”
ACA is one of the larger Pentecostal churches, and was founded in 1948. It currently has membership in excess of 20,000. Joshua is the grandson of ACA founder G Sundaram. Sam took over after Sundaram’s death in 1989.