He denied that any Catholic churches were attacked by his group during the attacks but reportedly accepted responsibility for the attacks on prayer halls belonging to the New Life Fellowship Trust.[4] The Bajrang Dal were reported to have stated that they were not against Christianity in the region but were offended by the alleged forcible conversions.[5] Kumar had initially denied any involvement in the attacks before being arrested.[6][7] When asked again at a later date though if he had accepted responsibility for the attacks he denied it.[8]
Kumar resigned from Bajrang Dal on 1 October 2008 after witnessing a Hindu woman who had decided to commit suicide with her three children but was saved by Christian missionaries. He stated "That was the time I realised that life is more important than dharma (religion). A lot needs to be done for the betterment of life. My dream is to build a society that values life more than religion. In jail I read several literary works. I joined Bajrang Dal so that we could mobilise the youth for a good cause, but at the end of the day all our concepts were politically motivated."[3] In February 2011, after the commission reports into the attacks were published, Kumar formally apologised to the public for the attacks and accused the BJP Government of corruption.[9] On 21 February 2011 he joined the Janata Dal Party (JDS), declaring, "I am today shedding the shackles of communalism to strive for communal harmony, for which the JDS is working."[9] He was succeeded as state convener of the Bajrang Dal by Suryanarayana. Kumar died in Bengaluru of a heart attack on 25 April 2020.[10][11][12]
