Pastor held on dowry harassment, rape charges

While his wife alleged that he was harassing for additional dowry, nurse accuses him of sexually assaulting her

A church pastor was arrested by the Medipally police on Monday on charge of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman on the promise of marriage and later refusing to tie the knot on flimsy grounds. Later, the victim, who earlier worked as a staff nurse at a private hospital at Uppal, learnt that the pastor Sadu Chinna Venkateshwarlu (35) from Laxmi Nagar Colony, Boduppal, was married twice. “He lured the victim with deceitful intention and raped her on the promise of marriage. Whenever the victim asked him about marriage, he avoided the topic,” Medipally police said. The accused pastor of a Gospel Church also conducts religious programmes for two television channels airing evangelical programmes. He first got married to one Sandhya in 2010 and the couple were blessed with a girl child. Due to ill health Sandhya passed away and again in 2015, he got married to Rebecca (36). “She was blessed with a boy and was living with her parents due to marital disputes,” police said.