COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities arrested a senior Buddhist monk on Saturday for the alleged sexual abuse of an underage girl, police said, marking the highest-profile case involving clergy in the country.
Pallegama Hemarathana, 71, was arrested at a private hospital in the capital Colombo, where he had sought treatment over the weekend amid an investigation into the alleged abuse of the 11-year-old girl in 2022.
The crime is alleged to have taken place at a highly venerated temple in Anuradhapura, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Colombo, where Hemarathana is the chief priest.
"We will be guided by the magistrate on further action," a police statement said Saturday.
The monk will soon be presented before a judge.
Authorities added that the victim's mother has also been arrested for aiding and abetting the monk.
The development comes a day after a local court in Anuradhapura imposed a foreign travel ban on the monk.
There have been several cases of clergy abusing children in Sri Lanka, but the latest arrest involves the most senior monk to be accused of such a crime.
The 71-year-old is the chief custodian of a tree believed to have been grown from a sapling of the Bodhi tree in India that sheltered the Buddha when he attained enlightenment more than 2,500 years ago.
He is also the chief of eight highly venerated temples that are on a key Buddhist pilgrim route.