Indian nun’s killer overcome by love, undergoes transformation

A man who murdered a nun 12 years back in Madhya Pradesh, overcome with love and sorrow, has undergone a spiritual transformation, asking forgiveness for the crime he committed.

Samandar Singh "could not stop himself from tearfully offering a handful of flowers on the grave of Sister Rani Maria whom he murdered on February 25, 1995," said Sajan George, president, Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

According to George, Singh, after getting released from the prison, visited her grave in Udainagar in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh and prayed for forgiveness. The former contract killer had apparently stabbed the nun about 50 times on a bus because her tough stand against reported injustice towards poor villagers had angered moneylenders and feudal lords.

However, "Samandar is now a transformed man as he saw affection and forgiveness in Sister Maria's family," George added.

According to GCIC, the family even helped him get parole after appealing to the state Governor for his release. Singh was eventually set free on August 22, 2006, after spending over 11 years in prison.

In 2002 the nun's sister, also a Clarist nun, Sister Selmy Paul, met Singh in prison during the Hindu festival of Rakshabandan and symbolically accepted him as her brother by tying a thread around his wrist.

"This changed the heart of the killer," George said, adding that Singh realized that he had "committed the most reprehensible sin by taking the life of an angel who worked for the poor."