New Delhi - Seven people have been arrested in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand for the killing of a Catholic nun, news reports said on Monday.
Valsa John, 52, was killed on December 15 when a group of at least 50 people armed with sticks and axes broke into her home in Pachuwara village of Pakur district and beat her to death.
John belonged to a Catholic congregation from the southern state of Kerala but had lived in Pachuwara for decades, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Seven men from the village were arrested, police said.
The victim's family said she had faced threats in the past.
John had helped to organise resistance in Pachuwara and adjoining villages in 1995 to a mining project by Panem Coal Ltd. In 2006, John had persuaded the villagers to call off their agitation after the company agreed to their demands for compensation and jobs.
Some of the men arrested belonged to the group that she had organised, the newspaper reported. They had been part of a campaign accusing John of selling out to the coal company, the report said.
John had also given shelter to a girl allegedly raped by one of her own aides and lodged a complaint against him. The alleged rapist was arrested on Friday and the police were looking into his involvement in John's murder, the Indian Express reported.
Some of the men arrested belonged to the group that she had organised, the newspaper reported. - Sapa-dpa