New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assured that the central government is making all the efforts to secure the release of Fr Tom Uzhunalil, a Salesian priest from Ramapuram, near Pala, who was abducted by a terrorist group on March 4.

Swaraj tweeted about the same on Saturday.

However, Fr Mathew Valarkot, spokesman for Salesians of Don Bosco in Bengaluru is quoted in The New Indian Express saying that he was in touch with another Salesian priest Fr George M K, a native of Kozhikode, who is in Yemen and as of now there are no confirmations that Fr Uzhunalil was abducted by the IS militants.

The social media was rife with speculation that Fr Uzhunalil will be crucified on Good Friday.