Sister Nirmala, other nuns robbed in Jharkhand

DHANBAD, 23rd Feb: A car carrying Mother Teresa's successor, Sister Nirmala, was waylaid by bandits during a tour of rural areas in eastern India but she was unhurt.

Sister Nirmala, who heads the global order of nuns founded by Mother Teresa in 1950, was travelling with a priest and two other sisters when they were held up on Saturday on a narrow road in thickly forested hills in Jharkhand state, police said.

According to Superintendent of Police Manvinder Singh Bhatia about 10 to 12 robbers, armed with rods and sickles, blocked the road with a fallen tree and robbed many occupants of vehicles of their watches, jewellery and cash but didnt injured anyone.

The incident took place about 80 km north-west of Ranchi, capital of the crime-infested state.

"She is upset but not shaken by the incident," said Kumar in Calcutta, global headquarters of the order, which has over 4,500 nuns in dozens of cities across the world.

Sister Nirmala was visiting Jharkhand as part of a tour of the order's homes in the region.

Police have failed to nab any of the criminals involved in the incident even as so-called raids and combing operations were on since Saturday itself.