A chief monk accused by his pagoda of impregnating a woman then trying to persuade her to have an abortion has disappeared, according to police.

Kbal Domrey commune police chief Mao Sovannara said chief monk Phal Sopha of the Sorsor 100 pagoda, in Kratie’s Sambo district, was the subject of a complaint from a 26-year-old woman in mid-October.

Nuon Nisa, 26, claimed Sopha had sex with her, but when she fell pregnant, told her to get rid of the baby and tried to get away from her, Sovannara said. The woman also demanded $20,000 in compensation from the monk, he added.

Kratie provincial monks launched an investigation, which led to a defrocking ceremony being arranged for Sopha on November 2, according to Su Ser of the Kratie Provincial Department of Cults and Religion.

But Sopha vanished before the ceremony could take place.

Kratie provincial monk Chuon Sin said Sopha had already told monastic officials the child was not his and claimed that the woman had confessed to him she had become pregnant by another man.