Symbolic photo.

A middle-aged priest in Madhya Pradesh's Anuppur district hanged himself at his home after he was booked for an SC/ST offence without investigation on the complaint of a woman, police said on Sunday. After the protest of the priest's family, the town inspector of the police has been attached to the line. SDOP will investigate the matter.

Rameshwar Pandey, a priest of Khodari village in Kotma in Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh, committed suicide by hanging himself. The family members of the priest alleged that a woman from the village had filed a fake complaint against the priest at Kotma police station. On this, the police filed a case against the priest and kept him in the police station for hours and also locked him in lockup. While the priest was charged with bailable charges.

Later in the evening, the priest was released on bond. After this, the deceased Rameshwar Pandey, whose age is said to be around 50 years, committed suicide after being upset over the incident.

After the priest's death, his family and villagers did not allow the body to be taken for post-mortem. The family members demanded that action should be taken against the woman who made the fake complaint and against the station house officer.

As the dispute escalated, the Superintendent of Police attached the line to the Station House Officer and handed over the investigation of the case to the SDOP. The post-mortem of the priest's body has been conducted.