Priest jailed for 7 years for rape

VISITED SOUTH AFRICA MANY TIMES

- YOSHINI PERUMAL [e-mail]

A UK-BASED Hindu priest, who visited South Africa on numerous occasions and was worshipped by devotees at temples in Tongaat, Phoenix and Newcastle, has been jailed for seven years after a London court found him guilty of the rape and attempted rape of a devotee.

Muraleekrishnan Pulikkal, an Indian national from Kerala, who lived in London, believed he was the “incarnation” of the Hindu deity Lord Muruga.

He ran regular prayer sessions for hundreds of UK devotees at the Sri Kathirgaama Skanthan Temple in Barnet, north of London.

According to the Daily Mail Online - a UK based publication - Pulikkal was arrested last year and charged with five counts of sexual offences including rape, attempted rape and three counts of sexual assault.

The publication reported he had been sentenced to seven years after a jury at the Wood Green Crown Court found him guilty on one counts of rape and another of attempted rape of his first victim.

During the trial it emerged that Pulikkal took advantage of the women and told them he would look after them as “God” and that they had been together in a previous life.