Catholic priest assaulted by gang in Panipat

Catholic priest assaulted by gang in Panipat
DEEPAN DASGUPTA

CHANDIGARH, JAN 2: A Catholic priest was attacked by some intruders in a missionary school in Panipat in the early hours on Saturday. He sustained multiple injuries and has been hospitalised. Evidence suggests that robbery seemed to be the motive of the intruders.

According to information received here, Father Vikas, the Superior of Church and Manager of St Mary's School on Assand Road, about five km from Panipat, was attacked by some men at about 2.30 am. The school and the church are run by the Delhi-based Indian Missionary Society.

``Having been woken up by the cries of Fr Vikas, the cook rushed to the neighbours for help. On seeing the neighbours coming armed with a gun, the attackers fled," Fr. Ashwin, the Parish Priest at the St Mary's Church, told The Indian Express from Panipat over the telephone. The intruders, about seven of them, were armed with lathis and rods and wore pyjamas and sweaters, Father Ashwin added. Fr Vikas lay unconscious in a pool of blood in the bathroom. His room had beenransacked. "The hooligans had forced open the steel safe (in the room) with an iron rod."