The Mangaluru police have arrested Siprian Pinto, the priest at St. Vincent Ferrer Church at Valencia in Mangaluru, for alleged aggravated sexual assault on five 14-year-old boys.

Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said Pinto was arrested at the house of his relatives.

The police will produce him before the magistrate after the interrogation and completion of other procedures.

In the complaint before the Mangaluru South police on the night of October 15, one of the victims, a 14-year-old boy, claimed that Pinto gave him a chocolate and said he loved the boy’s smile.

He then took the boy to a room in the church and inappropriately touched him.

Subsequent visits

On his subsequent visits to the church for prayers, the boy alleged that Pinto touched him inappropriately.

On the evening of August 14, Pinto called the victim to the receptionist room, hugged him and put his hands inside the boy’s undergarments.

Also read: Priest found guilty of abusing minor girl under guise of rituals

The victim then told his four friends, all aged 14, about Pinto’s conduct. His friends said that they too had experienced the same.

The victim said he informed his parents about the sexual harassment, and they all went to the Mangaluru Bishop. On his instructions, they lodged a complaint.

The complaint was registered for offences under Sections 8 (sexual assault) and 9 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 75(2) (sexual harassment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.