A 65-year-old man, who administered an ashram and worked as a priest at a local Shiva temple at Vedagirivaripalle village in Irala mandal, 35 km from here, was found dead on Wednesday. The police found strangulation marks on his body.
The Chittoor (Rural West) police said that the deceased, Sachidananda Swamy, had been running an ashram for three decades, delivering lectures on spirituality and catering to the requirements of the visiting devotees. He was widely referred to ‘swamiji’ by locals.
A 60-year-old woman, said to have been serving the priest since a decade, has alleged that an unknown person who sneaked into the ashram around midnight on Tuesday had killed the priest.
She informed the police that the man then allegedly pursued after her in a bid to outrage her modesty and that she could escape by hiding amid thorny bushes till early hours of Wednesday.
Circle-Inspector C. Lakshmikanth Reddy, who inspected the ashram, said that the woman, who claimed rape attempt on her, was incongruous in her version. “Strangely, she also says she had seen a black figure disappearing into thin air after the murder.” The police officer said that during the last three months, the police had informed the ashram head to arrange CC cameras on his premises, but in vain.
A case has been registered and further investigation is on.
