Six trainee evangelists have been badly beaten up in India on Sunday. Police have reported that the six were all members of the Believers Church, and were allegedly beaten by RSS workers at Budhannur, which is in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.

The police told reporters how the victims were attacked and forced into an auto-rickshaw. There they were transported to a site some distance away from the Budhannur area and were attacked further and beaten.

The victims were student evangelists from the north and eastern areas of India, although it has not yet been confirmed that the attacks were religiously motivated.

The six, who have been named as Jayakumar, Jogendra Thappa, Himaj Naik, Kiran Chakma, Dimond Topo and Narendra Naik, were admitted into a private hospital in Tiruvalla to obtain immediate treatment for their injuries.

Police in the region stated that they have launched an investigation into the incident, although as of yet no arrests have been made in connection with the attacks.