The director of one of the city’s most well-known coaching classes was arrested on Thursday, on the charges of molesting a teenager in front of her classmates in his cabin.
According to the police, the accused has been identified as Machhindra Chate (48), director of Chate Coaching Classes. The victim is a 17-year old HSC student (name withheld), who studies in his coaching class.
The Bhoiwada police arrested Chate on Thursday; he was subsequently released on bail by the court. However, the spokesperson of the coaching class denied the molestation charge. He claimed that the students had levelled false allegations after the management lodged police complaints against them.
The incident took place at around 5.30 pm at Chate’s office at Prakash Mansion in Dadar (east).
An officer of the Bhoiwada police said, “A few students were not happy with the alleged irregularities in the lectures. A meeting of students, parents and the director was called for at the latter’s office on Wednesday afternoon.”
The officer added that after a discussion between the parents and Chate, the students approached the director in his cabin and complained about the lectures not being conducted regularly. Students were repeatedly asking Chate, who was to be held responsible for this irregularity.
This infuriated Chate, and he started shouting at the students. A heated argument ensued and in the scuffle Chate caught hold of a victim and touched her inappropriately.
She immediately screamed; this caught the attention of the parents of the students, who were waiting outside the cabin. After over an hour of heated exchange of words between the accused and students-parents, the victim along with her parents approached the Bhoiwada police and lodged a complaint against Chate, the officer said.
“Chate appeared at the Bhoiwada police station and he was subsequently arrested under Section 354 (molestation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC. He was produced in a local court that released him on a bail bond of `15,000,” said Vikram Patil, senior inspector of the Bhoiwada police.
However, when contacted, Sachin Temkar, spokesperson of Chate Coaching Classes claimed, “It was the students, who first manhandled Chate. We informed the police about the incident and called for help. The molestation allegation is just a staged drama…it was pre-planned as they were well-prepared with cameras.”