Some of the localities surrounding Amlapur in Karvan, where Goverdhan lived, are communally sensitive. Minor clashes between two communities now and then divided the local youngsters into groups, each fearing domination by the other.

Against this backdrop, the alleged campaign for Christianity and conversions by pastors K Daniel and K Issac Raju in these areas sowed the seeds of hatred against them in the mind of Goverdhan.

Goverdhan, who was arrested on 19 June 2005 in connection with the killings of Daniel and Raju, reportedly confessed to the police that once Daniel even asked him to change his religion.

Asked as to what drove him to resort to the killings when the police presented him at a media conference, Goverdhan made it clear that he eliminated the two, enraged over the conversions. "They were targeting the underprivileged and poor of a particular religion which I felt was not correct," he said.

Goverdhan was working for a religious fundamentalist organisation much before Daniel started his religious campaign, it is learnt. While police maintained that Goverdhan's antecedents were yet to be verified, inquiries with locals revealed that his organisation had gained a strong base in the area and developed a network of activists.

He came across K Daniel of Asifnagar a year ago when the latter was reportedly found distributing pamphlets about conversions. Goverdhan and his associates took objection to this and warned Daniel against the campaign.

On one occasion, trouble broke out when a woman of the locality married outside her religion. A clash ensued when Goverdhan and his men argued that the marriage should be performed as per the traditions of the bride. The matter went to the Asifnagar police station and a case was registered in this regard.

Religion conversion of a family at Atttapur also invited the wrath of some local youngsters who had allegedly beaten up the pastor concerned. "Goverdhan was provoked by such incidents and hatched a plan with his associates to kill Daniel," a police officer associated with the investigation said.