Andheri toddler rape case: School trustee's 'accomplice', a teacher held

About a fortnight after the co-founder and trustee of a reputed Andheri-based international school was arrested in the toddler rape case, more than six months after the police had filed an FIR against him, the three-year-old girl's class teacher, the other accused in the case, was arrested. DCP (zone X) Navin Reddy confirmed the development.

Representation pic

Class teacher arrested
The MIDC police had booked the 31-year-old woman, making her a co-accused in the case, following a complaint by the girl's parents. As per their complaint, they had noticed their daughter behaving unusually and questioned her about it, which had brought the class teacher's role to light. The parents had told the police that the teacher knew what was happening with their daughter but had kept mum.

Cop speaks
An officer said, "She was arrested from her home in the western suburbs. She was produced in court on Tuesday and sent to judicial custody."

The teacher's arrest comes just two days before the hearing in the criminal writ petition filed by the parents in the Bombay High Court, which has ordered the police to file their second progress report on November 23. In a hearing at the child rights commission last week, the panel too had asked the police about the teacher's arrest.

The 57-year-old main accused, a foreign national, is in judicial custody till November 24, as granted by the Dindoshi special court. In an application submitted before the court, the co-founder has denied the allegation and called himself "a victim of circumstances".

Case diary
The FIR registered on May 18 alleged that the offence was "discovered" by the girl's mother on the night of May 15. The girl had then told the police that the abuse took place several times between November 2016 and March 2017; on questioning, she had identified the main accused as a "boy teacher".

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