Bid to abduct nun in backyard of Capital

Bid to abduct nun in backyard of Capital
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, JULY 30: Three unidentified men attempted to abduct a nun in Sahibabad around noon today. Sister Celine John was walking towards Holy Angels School in Section III, Sahibabad, to collect the notebooks of children. When she was just 10 m away from the school gate, a white Maruti van stopped near her.

Three men, dressed in black t-shirts and jeans, assailants caught her by the neck and dragged her into the vehicle. According to Sister Celine John's statement, before they caught her one of them said `yeh issai hai' (she's a Christian). She tried to shout but the assailants covered her mouth and threatened to kill her.

They asked Sr Celin to remove her chain with the cross. She refused to do so. The three then drove for about 10 minutes on the Ghaziabad-Delhi highway before they stopped near the border to collect the fourth person.

``After a kilometre or two, another man on the road waved his hand and stopped the van. As the van stopped, and the four got talking I managed to open the door and ran out.''

They could not catch her as she escaped into the busy highway. After waiting for a while, the three reportedly drove away.

As a frightened, Sr Celine was wandering on the highway, a man on his scooter came that way and stopped on seeing her. His children study in Holy Angels School and he recognised Sr Celine. On hearing about the attack, the man took the nun back to the convent.

The Sahibabad police have registered a case of kidnapping and launched a manhunt. The SSP and SP of Ghaziabad have visited the place and are supervising the investigation. But so far, the police have no clue about the culprits.

A picket has been set up outside the Convent. ``It is a highly suspicious case in the sense that it is a highly populated area but nobody seems to know anything about the incident. We have set up a picket in the area. We are conducting the investigation on the basis of the statement given by the nun,'' said SSP Ghaziabad Prashant Kumar.

Fr Donald HR De Souza, Deputy Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops Conference condemned the attack, describing it as ``a shocking crime in the backyard of the Capital''."We are very worried since the Mathura incident. And these blatant attacks have become a great cause of concern for us, irrespective of who the criminal is," said John Dayal, All India Catholic Union national secretary.