A Catholic priest says he has not overcome the trauma of kidnap and robbery even a week after the incident.
“I am alive today only because of God’s grace. I was afraid the gang would kill and bury me at a place that nobody would find out,” says 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.
The 60-year-old priest, on transfer from Mysore to their mission in Kerala’s Kasargod district, was going to his new place in the car of his cousin Tomy Isaac, who lives in Mysore. “My cousin offered to drive me to the new place in his car. We had a pleasant journey to Madikkeri.”
However, when they were proceeding to Sulliya Road on the way to Kerala around 10:30 am, a gang of nine armed men overtook their car and blocked it. Masked men armed with gun and knives then broke the car’s windows and pulled out the priest.
The men, who spoke Tamil and Malayalam, snatch the priest’s mobile and laptop before pushing him to their car blindfolded. “I had no idea about my cousin. After a long distance, in a remote village, they brought my cousin by another car. We both were taken together to some remote places and somebody brought our car at Hirisave,” Father Pulickapadavil told Matters India June 8.