Exorcist held on charges of raping woman

Police said the incident occurred when the victim approached the exorcist to seek a cure for her ailment.

Motihari’s Mufassil police Tuesday arrested an exorcist for allegedly raping a woman at a cremation ground in a village located in East Champaran last week.

The accused took ₹10,000 to hold a special prayer, following which he committed the crime. (Representative image)

The station house officer (SHO) of Mufassil police station, Vinay Kumar, said the accused Indal Sahani was arrested after the victim filed a complaint.

“The woman’s medical examination reports are awaited,” the SHO said.

Quoting the woman’s statement, police said the incident occurred when the victim approached the exorcist to seek a cure for her ailment.

“The exorcist took the woman to a cremation ground on the pretext of performing some prayer to free her from power she was being possessed by subjected her to the sexual assault,” said SHO Vinay Kumar.

The man took ₹10,000 to hold the special prayer that, according to him, would cure her ailment, said a policeman.

The woman told the police the exorcist suddenly started getting physical with her while performing prayer. Hearing her distress call, her relatives, who were waiting at some distance on the man’s instructions, rushed to her rescue. The exorcist fled from the spot, police said.

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