Mumbai: Andheri school founder held for repeated sexual assault on 3-year-old

The police have also conducted a polygraph test of the accused to ascertain if he told the truth in his initial police statement he will be in custody till Nov 14The MIDC police arrested the 57yearold trustee and cofounder of a reputed Andheri school yesterday for allegedly sexually assaulting a threeyearold student The arrest comes days after the cops were pulled up by the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and six months after they had filed a case of rapeRepresentation picDCP zone X Navinchandra Reddy told midday The accused was arrested on Tuesday morning and produced before a court which sent him to police custody till November 14 Sources said the accused had moved a petition in HC for being allowed homecooked food behind barsNew evidence found during the investigation led to his arrest said Reddy replying in the negative when asked if the teacher accused of being his accomplice was held as well The teacher has been booked in the caseAlso read Mumbai Crime 57yearold man who raped a minor in Andheri school roams scotfreeAs part of the investigation the police recorded statements of at least 75 people including students teachers members of the school management and employees Officers had recorded the statement of the accused a foreign national after hed returned from abroadCase statusA senior officer said We also made him take a polygraph last month to see if he would contradict his earlier statements The report from the Kalina forensic laboratory is awaited The questions asked in the test were related to the sequence of events as mentioned in the complaint by the victims parentsThe familys lawyer S Balakrishnan told midday It is a matter of shame that the police could arrest the accused only after so long and that too after the victim had to bring the matter to the notice of the child rights commissionAlso read Mumbai Cops stare at dead end in 3yearolds rape at Andheri schoolThe family had filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court after the police had failed to arrest the accused The court last week had transferred the case to an ACPlevel officer said a sourceMeghwadi division ACP Milind Khetle took charge on November 1 and arrested the accused from his Malad homeUnrest among parentsThe arrest has left parents of other students worried and confused with anxious discussions on what would happen to the school nowAfter the case was filed in May the school had continued to function as usual but now said parents they didnt know what the situation would be The school hasnt hidden anything from us with respect to the issue Authorities had been reiterating that the police were carrying out an investigation and they were cooperating with it Now the arrest does add to concerns We are hopeful that the school issues a statement so that we know whats going to happen said a parentAlso read Mumbai school toddler rape A month in cofounder still a nogoAuthorities from the school were not available for commentA recapThe victims mother had told the police that the incident had taken place earlier this year On May 15 she had noticed her daughter behaving unusually touching her private parts after which she had asked her what the matter was and the girl had narrated the ordeal how her teacher had taken her and a classmate out to play a man had joined them and touched both of them inappropriately while the teacher stood watching The girl had said it had started in Diwali 2016 and gone on till March 2017The girls mother had then opened the schools website and shown her photos of all staff members till she identified the manAlso read Mumbai MIDC police book Andheri school cofounder for toddlers rapeThe mother had first tried to speak to the school administration about it on being rebuffed she had lodged a complaint on May 18 under IPC section 376 2 I read with sections 4 6 and 10 of the POSCO ActOn June 8 the police had questioned the girl with the help of experts during which she had told them the same she had told her mother and again identified the accused from a list of photos of the school staffers On June 20 her statement was recorded under section 164 of the CrPC in the presence of a magistrate of the Mazgaon court