A priest in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura has been sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly luring adolescent girls visiting a temple into a room, secretly recording obscene videos of them and selling the footage to people abroad.
A priest in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura has been sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly luring adolescent girls visiting a temple into a room, secretly recording obscene videos of them and selling the footage to people abroad. A court also slapped a fine of Rs 1.43 lakh on the convict, a government lawyer said on Sunday.
According to news agency PTI, Additional District and Sessions Judge Brijesh Kumar pronounced the verdict on Friday, sentencing Shyam Bihari, who worked as a priest at the temple, to life imprisonment. Assistant advocate Rampal Singh confirmed the punishment.
The case came to light after Interpol shared information about the alleged activities with Indian authorities. Acting on the alert, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR on June 17, 2025, and launched an investigation.
The CBI subsequently arrested Shyam Bihari from a temple in a village falling under the Jaint police station area, Singh said.
During the investigation, the agency uncovered how the priest allegedly exploited the trust of young girls who visited the temple. According to the prosecution, he would lure them into a room on the pretext of offering ‘prasad’.
Once inside, he allegedly engaged in obscene acts with the girls and secretly recorded videos of them. The footage was subsequently sold online to individuals living abroad, Singh said.
The illegal online sale of the videos eventually caught Interpol’s attention, prompting the international agency to alert the Indian government and leading to the CBI probe.
The investigating agency completed its investigation within a month and filed a chargesheet before the court on August 18, 2025. Following the trial, the court sentenced the priest to life imprisonment and imposed the fine.