Andaman Police Seek to Question American Duo for 'Brainwashing' Missionary Killed by the Sentinelese

Kolkata: The Andaman and Nicobar police will request the Ministry of External Affairs to examine two American Nationals in connection with the killing of John Allen Chau on the Andaman and Nicobar's North Sentinel Island.

The suspects, Bobbie Parks from Colorado and Christian from Tennessee, are members of the All Nations Church of which John was also a member. All Nations Church is an international Christian organisation that trains and sends its members everywhere to carry out missionary activity.

Police suspect that the Church brainwashed a ‘reluctant’ John Allen Chau into visiting the Island. The local fishermen and his friends who accompanied John to somewhere near the Island told sleuths that he was confused and indecisive about visiting the island.

“On the basis of circumstantial evidence, it seems that the two American nationals brainwashed John and convinced him of carrying out missionary activity in the North Sentinel Island. We have some evidence that persuaded him of this between December 5 and 10, 2018,” Director General of Police, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dependra Pathak said.

Emphasising the uniqueness of the case, Pathak said that the investigation hasn’t been called off. “We have prepared a draft for External Affairs Ministry seeking permission and to start the diplomatic process to examine the two American nationals who left Port Blair on November 10, 2018.”

According to the police, John was supposed to have left for the North Sentinel island but had to postpone the plan to November 15, 2018, due to bad weather.

“Their (the suspects’) statements are very crucial in this case and we want them to join our investigation. We will send the letter to MEA in a day or two.”

The access to North Sentinel Island and its buffer zone is strictly prohibited under the Protection of Aboriginal Tribe (Regulation), 1956 and Regulations under Indian Forest Act, 1927.

The police are hence still waiting on the anthropologist’s advice about how they can go exhume John’s body and his digital camera (if at all necessary).

“No final decision has been taken as we have sought expert suggestions from tribal welfare ministry and Anthropological Survey of India,” Pathak said.

The case of John’s murder had sent ripples across the country and the international community given that no one before had attempted to contact the world’s last pre-Neolithic tribe – Sentinelese. The case also raised several questions of marine security.

Probe revealed that John went to Port Blair on October 16 and stayed in Hotel Lalaji Bay View. On October 19, he left for Hut Bay (located far away from Port Bair in Little Andaman Island) and returned to Port Blair on November 5.

After his return, he stayed with his friend Alexander (Employee in Elcom Integrated Systems Ltd.) at Dairy Farm in Port Blair till November 14 before he left for North Sentinel Island around 8 PM. On November 17, 2018, around 6.30 AM, John’s fishermen friends saw a John’s body being dragged and getting buried by the unknown persons near the shore.