The Kerala Police on Sunday arrested a priest for sexually abusing an 11-year-old schoolboy on December 21, The Times of India reported on Monday. Father Basil Kuriakose, the principal of the Kings David International School in Kochi’s Kunnathunad, reportedly abused the student in a hostel dormitory on December 21 when the other students had gone home for their Christmas holidays.

A police officer said Kuriakose molested and tried to sodomise him. Other officers said the incident came to light after the boy told his elder brother. The boy’s parents, who are working in Haryana, then came to Kerala to file a complaint against Kuriakose.

The officers said they had filed a First Information Report against Kuriakose under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, according to The New Indian Express. Kuriakose has denied the allegations against him, even though he has admitted to being in the same room as the boy on the night that he was abused, the officers added.