A pastor from a church based in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, who is accused of sexually assaulting two minors, has been arrested in Kerala’s Munnar. John Jebaraj, a pastor of Kings Generation Church in Coimbatore, was arrested last evening. He was produced in court today and remanded in judicial custody.
Thirty-seven-year-old Jebaraj, who has a large social media following, had been evading arrest for months. The Central All Women Police Station of Coimbatore tracked him down to Munnar and took him into custody. Earlier, the Coimbatore City Police had formed multiple teams to locate him. A lookout notice had also been issued to stop Jebaraj from fleeing the country.
Jebaraj has been charged under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). Sections relating to aggravated sexual assault have been invoked against him, it is learnt.
According to reports, Jebaraj allegedly assaulted the minors during a party at his Coimbatore home in May last year. One of the victims recently confided in a relative about the incident. A complaint was subsequently filed at the Central All Women Police Station.
This comes days after Bajinder Singh, a pastor in Punjab, was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 2018 rape case. The complainant had alleged that Bajinder Singh lured her with a promise to take her abroad and raped her at his Mohali home. She alleged that Singh also shot a video of the act and threatened to post it on social media.
A senior police officer told NDTV, “One minor girl has given a complaint to the child welfare committee about the abuse. We are investigating.”
Jebaraj recently moved the Madras High Court for anticipatory bail. Denying the allegations, he claimed his estranged wife is behind these allegations. The couple is in the middle of divorce proceedings.
