Priest promises job and cheats 3 women........... !!!

Priest promises jobs to 3 women, cheats them of 2L

Today there is an article in Times of India titled ‘Priest promises jobs to 3 women, cheats them of 2L’  ~ though one can technically defend, this is one misleading caption………… Whosoever be it, anyone committing a mistake must be punished ~ more so, when crimes are committed by people whom the society consider to be pious, good at heart and as serving the society !!!

Sadly, Hinduism is under attack in the media and by many people ~ who throw stones without even caring to know the basics and for people like them, headlines like these are fodder….. this news can and could easily be misinterpreted to mean that some priest of a hindu temple had committed some serious harm……. Now first read the news item before forming any opinion…….

Times News Network : Chennai: A 35-year-old priest, who had cheated three women of several lakhs with promises of jobs in the central government, the state secretariat and under the ‘Amma thittam’, was arrested on Wednesday.

The priest, Ezhilarasan of Peravallur in north Chennai, was introduced to the victims through Rebecca of GKM Colony. She took Ezhilarasan to the houses of the victims in the same area to pray for their wellbeing. Once he came to know of their problems, he promised attractive jobs for them or their family members, claiming that he had a lot of political influence. His first victim was Sudarmathi, who was desperately looking for a job for her brother. He promised the youth a good placement in Southern Railway and took Rs 1.6 lakh and a one-sovereign gold chain from her, a police officer said. He similarly took Rs 60,000 from Saroja, with the promise of a job in a government hospital, and Rs 10,000 from a woman named Latha after telling her he would get her a job in a bank.

Believing him, the victims arranged the money by pledging their gold jewellery or borrowing from private financiers, said an investigating officer. “For a while, the victims did not suspect any foul play as he always sounded confident,” said a senior police officer. They lodged complaints with police only after he neither got them the promised jobs nor repaid the money. Ezhilarasan, who is married with three children, had been staying in Mathur since May. He is also suspected to have cheated job aspirants in other areas like Otteri. More complaints are likely to be lodged against the priest, police said.

Sources reveal that he was not employed in any of the Hindu temples….. English dictionary gives synonyms to the Father / Preacher in a Church as : Chaplain, clergyperson, cleric, curate, divine, ecclesiastic, elder,father confessor, friar,holy man, lama, man of God, man of the cloth, monk, padre, pontiff, preacher, rector,vicar, Bishop, Curate……………….

In Hindu temples the Pujari / Archagar is  commonly referred to as  ‘Priest’ in English media…….in Sanskrit / Hindu, they are Purohit / Pandits………

Rest is left to your imagination and understanding… !!!