By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi, March 26, 2026: The Church in northeastern India has gone into a shock after one of its priests was found dead on a railway track two days after he went missing from a train.

The Railway Protection Force found Father Joseph Mulen’s body on March 26 at Eluru in Andhra Pradesh, southern India.

“It is with deep sorrow and profound sadness that we inform you of the untimely and tragic demise of Father Mulen,” said a March 26 letter from Bishop Albert Hemrom of Dibrugarh addressed to priests, nuns and faithful of the diocese.

The 91-year-old priest of Assam’s Dibrugarh Diocese boarded Vivek Express on March 22 for Ernakulam in Kerala but went missing after midnight on March 24. His body was found some 2,600 km southwest of Dibrugarh, ending an anxious search by Church authorities and family members.

“This sudden and tragic incident has left all of us deeply shocked and heartbroken,” wrote the bishop.

His death has raised questions about the circumstances of his disappearance, reported nescom.world, the region’s Church news service. The northeast Church, it added, pays tribute to Father Mulen’s six decades of priestly service.

“Authorities believe he may have accidentally fallen from the train during the journey, though the exact circumstances remain unclear,” the news service said.

Father Mulen, who came to northeastern India from Kerala in early 1960s, “was a devoted priest, dedicated to his ministry and committed to serving God’s people with sincerity and zeal,” said Bishop Hemrom.

The bishop asked his people to remember Father Mulen in their prayers and to offer Masses for the repose of his soul, as well as for his bereaved family.

Father Mulen was born January 6, 1936, in Devagiri parish near Angamaly in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. He was ordained a priest on April 23, 1964. He first worked in the Diocese of Jalpaiguri, and in 1974 joined the Diocese of Dibrugarh.

In 1999, he returned to Kerala for a period to care for his ageing mother. He served as confessor at St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary during 2011-2025.

“Even in retirement, Father Moolan remained a man of prayer and a quiet witness. His humility, pastoral sensitivity, and lifelong dedication to the Church leave behind a legacy cherished by those he served,” reports catholicconnect.in.