Church priest killed

Panaji, Mar 18 (UNI) A priest was allegedly killed by two youth at his house at Macazana church premises in Salcette taluka of South Goa last night, police today said.

Police said they have launched a search for the two accused, identified as Amit and Aliz, who had come for dinner at the deceased's house. Both hail from Uttar Pradesh.

There were no signs of ransacking the house and the police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder.

The rooms of the priest and his cook, Sumit Rodrigues, were locked from outside. The accused fled from the scene after strangulating the priest, Ezibuio Ferrao (63).

When Sumit raised an alarm from his room this morning, the parishioners who had come for the morning mass, rushed to unlock the rooms and found the priest lying in a pool of blood. They immediately alerted the Maina-Curtorim police station.

The incident has raised alarms amid a spate of burglaries reported in churches during the last month.

Senior police officials including DIG Ujjwal Mishra and Superintendent of Police S M Prabhu Desai rushed to the spot to supervise the investigation.

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