Bengaluru: Six-year-old student rape accused, Mustafa alias Munna, could never have landed a job at Vibgyor High had school bothered to conduct a background verification. As it turns out, the accused had been fired from named Deens Academy on December 16, 2011 for ‘gross misconduct’ with girl students just before he managed to get into Vibgyor as a skating instructor.
The Principal of Deens Academy, Shanthi Menon told Deccan Chronicle “We follow stringent policies in our academy and the staff is told strictly that they cannot touch their wards while teaching or training. Mustafa was warned twice after I had caught him touching students. He was issued two memos and lost his job the third time he was issued a memo, which was on December 16, 2011.” There was no reason for police intervention as there were no complaints against him for wrongdoing concerning students, said the principal. Ms. Shanthi Menon had even emailed the students’ parents saying – “We wish to inform you that Mr. Mustafa, Physical Education instructor, ceases to be an employee of The Deens Academy with immediate effect. His services have been terminated on account of ‘gross misconduct’.”
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Outgoing Commissioner of police, Raghavendra H. Auradkar told reporters on Sunday night, when the accused was brought before the media after his arrest that the accused displayed the traits of a paedophile, for he had been downloading pornographic videos featuring children onto his laptop and mobile. When he was asked why the arrest was made only after a week, the top cop said that many others in the staff, including non-clerical employees had to be verified as well.
Mr Auradkar also alleged that the accused is suspected to be part of a pornographic racket as owned a high-end laptop and smart phone despite earning only Rs 18,000 per month at VIBGYOR. Police are trying to ascertain how could afford the costly gadgets.
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Protests against police inaction grew louder everyday, for about a week after the victim’s parents lodged a police complaint. Social media was also abuzz with posts hinting at the skating instructor’s involvement, for some parents knew about the episode at the Whitfield school. It is also said that police picked up on these leads from parents, worked on the suspect, seized his laptop and mobile on July 16, and detained him on July 17th. His arrest was made public by the police on Sunday, July 20. The cops also claimed they had CCTV footage which showed the accused dragging the child near the room where she was locked.
