Noida: ‘Unfulfilled wish’: Priest held captive for 3 days

Noida: A priest from Noida was allegedly abducted and confined for three days in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district allegedly by his clients after his spiritual prayer conducted in the past, failed to fulfil their wish, police said on Monday, adding that two suspects were arrested on Saturday

Noida: A priest from Noida was allegedly abducted and confined for three days in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district allegedly by his clients after his spiritual prayer conducted in the past, failed to fulfil their wish, police said on Monday, adding that two suspects were arrested on Saturday.

Police identified the suspects in their 20s and residents of Masida village, Jaunpur. (Representational image)

Police identified the suspects in their 20s and residents of Masida village, Jaunpur.

According to police, on September 9, Rohit Tiwari, a resident of Sarfabad in Noida, approached the Sector 113 police station and filed a complaint stating that his father, Anil Tiwari, in his 50s, who had gone to conduct a prayer in Jaunpur on September 5, had not returned.

“I received a phone call, and my father informed me that he was abducted and kept in an unidentified isolated room by three to four people,” Tiwari alleged in the FIR, seen by HT, while also adding that his father was confined and not allowed to go anywhere.

Police said the suspects had allegedly made the priest call his family to arrange ₹1 lakh as extortion money for getting released from their custody.

A police officer, part of the investigation, said that the priest was finally rescued from Jaunpur on September 12 with the help of electronic surveillance.

An investigation found that the priest used to visit the suspects’ homes in Jaunpur to perform spiritual prayers, said officials.

“The suspects had a wish and asked the priest (Anil) to perform a prayer for it. When their wish remained unfulfilled despite the prayer, they called him again to Jaunpur and held him captive in a room,” said the officer cited above.

A case under Sections 127(7) (wrongful confinement) and 140 (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered against the suspects at the Sector 113 police station, and further investigation is underway, said officials.