Representative image.

Key Highlights The cleric used to teach children inside the premises of the mosque.

The priest allegedly "bit the girl’s cheek" when she tried to flee from his grasp.

MEERUT: Tension prevails at Saharanpur's Dabki Junardar village after an imam allegedly molested a seven-year-old girl inside the local mosque. According to sources, the priest allegedly "bit the girl’s cheek" when she tried to flee from his grasp, leaving a visible mark. A case has been registered on the insistence of the girl’s family but the imam is on the run.

Kari Khalid, the cleric, used to teach children inside the premises of the mosque. On Monday morning, the girl went to him for her lesson, when he started molesting her. When the girl realized what was going on, she tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but the cleric bit her on the cheek, leaving a mark on her face. She rushed home and in the evening, the family filed a case against Khalid in the police station," said Piyush Dixit, station officer at Saharanpur (rural) police station.

He added, "Khalid is currently absconding. We are raiding his potential hideouts. We are certain that he will be caught soon. We have sent the girl for a medical test and are collecting circumstantial evidence from the mosque. The imam has no criminal history in Saharanpur that I am aware of but we are trying to pull out his criminal records to see if he was involved in a similar case in the past as well."

