Gujarat: Head priest of temple booked for rape
The complainant has accused him of promising to marry her and making her divorce her husband.
The Gujarat police booked the head priest of a popular temple on Monday for allegedly raping a 25-year-old devotee, The Indian Express reported.
The woman accused 45-year-old Rishigiri Gauswami of raping her several times during the last 18 months after promising to marry her. The woman, a mother of two, had divorced her husband based on his instructions. The priest later did not marry her, she said.
Gauswami is the head priest at Madhavraiji temple of Prachi in Gir-Somnath district.
Sutrapada sub-inspector MP Pandya told The Times of India: “We have booked Gauswami for rape and Talala circle police inspector AP Solanki has been assigned the investigation.”
The woman is a resident of Talala taluka. She filed the complaint with Deputy Superintendent of Police (Veraval) on May 23. The police have filed a case against Gauswami under Sections 376 (rape), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506(2) (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
