Odisha: Headmaster arrested for allegedly raping student

A 57-year old headmaster of a residential school for SC and ST students has been arrested in Koraput district for allegedly raping a Class X student.

The girl was missing since March 19 last and her family had lodged a police complaint after they came to know that she had allegedly eloped with the headmaster.

By tracking the mobile phone number of the headmaster the police traced the duo and arrested him yesterday, Inspector In-Charge of Pottangi police station, Dev Gamang, said.

"In view of the incident, the headmaster has been suspended," the additional district welfare officer of Koraput, P K Sahu, said.

During interrogation, the girl claimed that the headmaster had a physical relation with her and had promised to marry her.

The girl told the interrogators that the headmaster had asked her to elope with him on March 19.

Medical examinations were conducted on the headmaster and the girl, the police said.

Officials said the girl was a student of a school, run by the education department, which functions from the Sevashram building.

The Sevashram has classes from I to VII and the education department school has classes from VIII to IX and both the schools function from the same building.

The arrested person was the headmaster of the Sevashram and also the headmaster in-charge of the education department school.