BARIPADA: Baripada Sadar police in Mayurbhanj district on Tuesday arrested an assistant engineer of Shymakhunta block for allegedly performing unnatural sexual acts with a group of male students of a government-run tribal residential school.
The accused is 45-year-old Prashant Kumar Senapati. Police said the engineer visited Bhanjabhumi Sanskrit Vidyalaya in Harishchandrapur village and inspected ongoing development works of the school on Sunday. At around 9 am, he reportedly took nine hostel inmates to an under-construction toilet building and asked them different questions.
Police said in the evening, the accused again reached the school hostel and lured the boys to the under-construction toilet. Taking advantage of the secluded spot, he reportedly touched the private parts of the minors at around 7 pm. Senapati also threatened the boys not to disclose the matter to anyone.
On Monday, the nine students narrated their ordeal before school headmistress Sebati Mohanta who immediately lodged an FIR in the local police station. Basing on the complaint, police registered a case and detained Senapati for interrogation. Subsequently, he was arrested.
The accused was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody after his bail was rejected, police added.
