Chennai: The priest who is the main accused in the alleged gang-grape and death of an anganwadi worker in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh was quizzed throughout Thursday night after his arrest in a late-night crackdown that ended his five-day run.
The âmahantâ Satya Narayan, was hiding in a forest area near the house of one of his followers in a village under the Ughaiti police station, from where he was picked up, the police said.
The priest, who is in his 50s, was immediately arrested and interrogated by a police team.
Four teams were formed to nab the accused, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sankalp Sharma said.
He will be taken for a medical examination and produced before a local court for seeking remand, the police said.
The 50-year-old woman, who had gone to a temple, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Sunday. Her family members accused the temple priest and his accomplices of raping and killing her.
A case was registered against the accused and two of them were arrested on Tuesday night, while the priest was absconding for almost five days before he was held.
The incident triggered an opposition outcry and a comparison with Delhi’s 2012 Nirbhaya case after the postmortem report confirmed rape, a broken rib cage, a fractured leg and injuries in the private parts of the victim.
The incident took place on Sunday and the matter came to light that night itself when the priest and his accomplices took the body of the victim to her house, saying it was found in a dry well on the temple premises.
The FIR was registered on Tuesday after an autopsy confirmed rape and the two accomplices of the priest were nabbed.
The station house officer (SHO) of the Ughaiti police station has been suspended for a âdelay in informing higher authorities, laxity in taking action, dereliction of duty and failure in taking speedy actionâ.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered âstrongest possible actionâ in the case even as opposition parties have launched an attack on his government, terming the incident âhorrificâ and âshamefulâ, with the Congress comparing it to the Nirbhaya case.
Following the incident, Bareilly ADG Avinash Chandra had visited the crime spot and announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on the arrest of the priest.