School principal held for slander via SMS

The principal of Sharad Pawar International School, and her driver have been arrested for allegedly attempting to malign the image of the institution run by D Y Patil group at Charholi.

Kharadi resident Nandini Abhikitdas Mitra (48), who is the principal of the school, and her driver Bappa Karmokar (29) alias Sushant , sent several SMSes from SIM cards procured under assumed names to management officials, parents of students and staffers, alleging that the school was involved in obscene and vulgar activities and was selling pornographic clips to students.

Setting a bad example? Principal of Sharad Pawar International School, Nandini Mitra (below), who was held for allegedly sending defamatory SMSes against school staff

Upon receiving the messages, school officials rushed to the Vishrantwadi police station and lodged complaint. During the investigation, the police traced the numbers and identified the duo and arrested them.

A complaint has been registered in this regard by Dilip Kawad, project manager of D Y Patil Educational Institute.

Amrut Mane, in-charge of the school administration said while talking to MiD DAY, "On May 17, our project manager received a text message from an unknown mobile number. The message maligned the image of five staff members of the school and alleged that they were involved in some obscene activities."

Kawad replied to the text message stating that he did not know the sender, and hence would not take the message seriously.

Kawad then informed Ajikya Patil, chairman of the institute, over the phone.

"On May 18, Kawad again received a message from the same number, which stated that five staff members, who are in the teaching faculty, were selling pornographic clips to students," said Mane.

The complainant messaged back asking the sender to meet him at the office and also gave assurance that the person's identity would be kept secret.

The sender replied stating that he was a student and could come not forward for fear of being rusticated from the school. The sender informed that the five staff members allegedly involved in such activities were preparing to flee.

The sender stated in the same message that he had caught three out of the five staffers in a compromising position on the school premise.

Kawad and Mane went ahead and informed Mitra about the text messages, but the principal told them that she had also received such messages on her cell phone.

"As the matter was becoming serious, we decided to lodge a complaint against the unknown sender and approached the police station," Mane said.

Senior Police Inspector, Motichand Rathod of the Vishratwadi police station said, "We started the investigation and came to know that Nandini Mitra and her car driver Sushant were behind the chain messaging."

The police informed the school management that their own principal was behind the messages and arrested Mitra and Sushant on Tuesday.

Mitra and Sushant have been arrested for allegedly sending messages with the intention to malign the image of five school staffers as well as the institute," Rathod said.

The duo was produced before a Khadaki court and released on bail.

Mane said, "We are shocked and really do not know why she had done this, as there were no differences between her and the management. The management never intervened into any decision of hers and she was given a free hand as principal."

Rathod added that during the investigation, they come to know that a few months ago Mitra had some differences with officials in the management and might have taken this step with the intention to tarnish the image of the school.u00a0