Man sentenced for blackmailing temple abbot

A man, surnamed Qian, has been sentenced five to six months in prison in Sichuan Province for extorting millions of yuan from a temple abbot after discovering his wife was having improper relationship with the abbot, according to a report by ThePaper.cn.

While announcing the prison term on Wednesday, the Mingshan District People's Court in Ya'an also fined him 100,000 yuan ($13,774), the report said.

Qian's wife, surnamed Cai, a livestreaming host, was also given a suspended sentence, or probation, with a fine of 50,000 yuan, it added.

The case dates back to the end of 2020 when Shi Zhaojie, former abbot of Shixiang Temple in Sichuan, met Cai in her livestreaming room of selling furniture, it said.

From then on, Cai and Shi kept in touch with each other and soon began having physical relationship, it added.

After discovering the relationship between Cai and Shi, Qian took pictures and videos of the pair and used them as blackmail to demand 2 million yuan from Shi, saying that if Shi did not pay the money, the content would be disclosed, it said.

Although Qian obtained the money, he still asked Shi to pay additional 3.2 million yuan, which led Shi to call to police, it added.