CHENNAI: Police on Friday arrested a 35-year-old pastor on charges of kidnapping and raping a minor girl .

David Inbaraj kidnapped the girl, daughter of a sub-inspector of the Tambaram police, on March 16 and took her to Hosur where they had been staying since.

The pastor, who saw the girl during her visit to a church in Tambaram, later visited her house under the pretext of conducting prayers and developed a relationship, police said. Inbaraj, who was already married with a child, eloped with the girl when she came out of her house on March 16.

Her father who lodged a police complaint learnt that the pastor was also missing from the same day as his wife Sonia lodged a separate complaint to trace him. As efforts to trace the pastor and the girl failed, the sub-inspector of police approached the Madras high court.

Police then swung into action and traced Inbaraj and the girl to a lodge in Hosur. The girl was rescued and the pastor remanded in judicial custody.

