IMPHAL, India (UCAN) -- A Catholic priest was shot for refusing to pay money to local extortionists May 18.

Salesian Father Sebastian Vadakkethannikal, headmaster of Don Bosco School in Imphal, Manipur state, eastern India, suffered bullet injuries when he refused to pay miscreants 700,000 rupees (US$25,000).

In an emergency meeting May 18 the Catholic Education Society (CES) in Manipur decided to close down all its educational institutions indefinitely to protest the incident.

According to police sources three people on two motorcycles shot the priest while he was walking to the school office.

The police chased the miscreants and killed two in an exchange of gunfire. The third was arrested later with injuries.

Doctors attending Father Vadakkethannikal said he suffered only one bullet injury in the leg and is out of danger following surgery.

Police have yet to identify the miscreants. There are speculations that they belong to a secessionist group.

CES director Father M.C. John said in a statement that an unidentified terrorist outfit served notice to all Catholic schools in Imphal area to raise 700,000 rupees and give it to them by the end of April.

According to Father John, school authorities decided not to pay the money.

Catholic institutions in Manipur have been the target of attacks and extortion for some time.

Father Mathew Manianchira was shot dead April 29, 1990, after refusing to comply with terrorist demands for money.

The Salesian novitiate in the outskirts of Imphal has paid money on two occasions. First when the novice master and his helper were kidnapped in May 1990, and when two novices were abducted in 1991 May.

Church sources say "fear, shock and tension is every where in Imphal today. People prefer to speak little."

Observers say any illegal outfit that needs money fast threatens Catholic schools because they will not react violently.

Manipur, unlike neighboring Assam state, has no industries and big business houses for terrorists to extort.

The easy escape to neighboring Myanmar also helps, observers note.

Manipur has over 51,000 Catholics among its 1.8 million people. Catholics are mainly in interior districts, but manage six schools in Imphal.

The indefinite closure of these schools will affect over 18,000 students according to a CES statement.

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