THANE: A cook at a government ashram school in Thane district, arrested earlier this week for allegedly molesting 22 minor female students, was a habitual offender who had previously been jailed under the POCSO Act and reinstated, an official said on Friday.
The accused, Ganpat Gavli, who worked at the ashram school in Temba in Shahpur, was a habitual offender and had been accused of a similar crime at an ashram school in Aghai, said Tejaswini R Galande, project officer (PO) of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Shahapur.
Gavli has been suspended following his arrest earlier this week, she said.
"Gavli, who had just 10 months left until retirement, was a habitual offender. He was booked earlier under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at another ashram school in Aghai and was even suspended back then. It is currently not known how and by whom he was reinstated," she said.
The victims at the school in Temba first approached the authorities with a complaint on August 24, following which the superintendent referred the matter to the headmaster, who immediately wrote to the Tribal Development Department.
A complaint was filed with the Shahapur police station, and the accused was arrested, she said.
"The fact that he is involved in such acts is clear, as it is not expected that 17 to 18 girls would narrate the same story independently," Galande said.
According to officials, Gavli was previously arrested for molestation at the Aghai ashram school. After being released from jail, he was posted in the Moroshi ashram school in Murbad before his recent transfer to Temba.