The priest was arrested on Tuesday after the woman filed an official complaint, said police (Representative Image) | Photo Credit: BCCL

Ayodhya: Police in Uttar Pradesh's temple town of Ayodhya on Tuesday told media personnel that the chief priest of a temple here has been arrested for allegedly holding a female devotee hostage and raping her multiple times. The complainant is a 30-year-old woman who had come to Ayodhya from Varanasi on December 24, added officials familiar with the matter.

Circle officer AK Sav was quoted as saying that the woman had arrived in Ayodhya to take lessons on spirituality from the accused, Krishna Kantacharya who is the mahant of a temple in the city. Sav also said that the accused offered the woman shelter inside the temple premises. When she agreed, the priest held her hostage and sexually abused her multiple times.

However, the woman managed to free herself from the clutches of her captor and alerted police which led to her rescue by local law enforcement officials. The mahant was arrested on Tuesday following a medical examination of the woman. An investigation into the matter is still underway pending the retrieval of medical reports and statements from witnesses by Ayodhya police.

A similar incident was reported from Kolkata in West Bengal in November of last year where a priest was accused of raping a 28-year-old mentally disabled woman on the temple premises in the city's Behala area. Locals had reportedly thrashed the accused after he was caught red-handed by the survivor's sister. He was then handed over to the police and an official complaint was registered against him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

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