Police in Chennai have arrested a young Catholic priest on suspicion of cheating a woman he promised to marry.

Representatives of the police commissioner’s office said yesterday Father Prem Kumar, 29, is in custody.

Fr Kumar is the assistant parish priest of St Patrick's Church in the foothills of the famed shrine of St Thomas Mount in Chennai.

The local police station, which is managed solely by women, arrested the priest after the woman, identified only as Regina, complained that he had promised to marry her before later ending the relationship.

Fr Kumar was reportedly friendly with the woman who worked in a parish school in Chingleput diocese.

Unconfirmed reports said the relationship was some time ago but that the woman only complained after the school terminated her employment. The diocese then asked the priest to move out of the parish.