Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
N
orth Division police on Tuesday arrested a 39-year-old priest from Hassan for allegedly raping a woman at a lodge in central Bengaluru.
The Bagalagunte police arrested Dayanand,a resident of Arasikere.He is a priest at the well-known Puradamma Temple in Hassan.The victim is a 26-year-old woman who is a resident of north Bengaluru.
A senior officer said that the incident unfolded at a lodge in central Bengaluru’s Upparpet on July 26.
Dayanand allegedly took her to the hotel on the pretext of completing a puja ritual and made a sexual move on her will,said the officer.
“Dayanand knew the woman since April through common connections and assured her that he would solve her problem through his puja.In the last three months,he had met her multiple times,given her lemons,and asked to keep them at her house,claiming that they were holy things,” .
A detailed investigation found that,Dayanand had won the trust of the woman,and she believed in him.He told her that he had to perform puja and took her to a lodge in Upparpet police station limits, where the incident unfolded.
The woman filed a complaint on Monday.Police filed an FIR under BNS Section dealing with rape against Dayanand and arrested him from his house in Arasikere on Tuesday and further investigation is on.
