A Catholic priest in India said he has not overcome the trauma of the kidnapping and robbery he underwent during the first week of the month.
“I am alive today only because of God’s grace,” said Father Dominic Pulickapadavil, a member of the Society of Montfort Missionaries, who was kidnapped by an armed gang on June 1 near Madikkeri in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
“I was afraid the gang would kill and bury me at a place that nobody would find out,” he told Matters India.
The 60-year-old priest, on transfer from Mysore to the mission in Kerala’s Kasargod district, was going to his new place with his cousin when the incident happened.
“My cousin offered to drive me to the new place in his car. We had a pleasant journey to Madikkeri,” said the priest.
However, when they were proceeding to Sulliya Road on the way to Kerala about 10:30 a.m., a gang of nine armed men overtook the car and blocked it. The masked men who were armed with guns and knives broke the car’s windows and pulled out the priest.
The men, who spoke Tamil and Malayalam, took the priest’s mobile phone and laptop before shoving him to the other car blindfolded.
“I had no idea about my cousin,” said the priest, although they were reunited in a “remote place.”
He said the gang kept driving the vehicle until they reached the village of Hiriseva about 9 p.m. where he was set free with his cousin.
Read the full story on Matters India