Key witness in Christian priest’s murder case found dead

AGRA, JUNE 18: A key witness in the recent murder of a Catholic priest in a school campus in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh was found dead in po...

AGRA, JUNE 18: A key witness in the recent murder of a Catholic priest in a school campus in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh was found dead in police custody last night, police said.

Vijay, cook of Brother George, who was murdered on June six, was allegedly beaten to death in police custody, principal of the Mathura school Brother Emannuel has complained in an FIR.

Police, however, said the 28-year-old cook had committed suicide last night in Nahrauli police station where he was being interrogated for the past six days in connection with the priest’s death.

Story continues below this ad

Senior Superintendent of Police Chandrika Rai told PTI by phone from Mathura that a sub-inspector and a constable of Nahrauli police station have been suspended and arrested and a magisterial probe ordered into Vijay’s death.

A team of three doctors has been formed to conduct the post-mortem to ascertain the cause of Vijay’s death, Rai said.

The Catholic Archdiocese at Agra alleged that Vijay, also a Christian and the first to find the body of the priest on June seven morning on the campus of St Francis school at Navada, had died due to police beating.

Meanwhile, Archbishop of Agra, Dr Vincent Concessao,Vicar General of Agra Archdiocese, Fr K C Thomas and other priests have rushed to Mathura.