The founder of an orphanage was arrested by the Vanasthalipuram police on Sunday for sexually harassing eight minor girls who lived and studied at his institution.
M. Malyadri, 37, of Prakasam district, was the founder and secretary of Siria Orphanage Home and School located near Ganesh temple in TV Colony here and initial investigation revealed that Malyadri had outraged the modesty of eight girls though the police suspect that there might be more victims.
“There are 135 orphans in the hostel of whom 95 are girls. Malyadri also runs a school, Siria Orphans Residential School, where he provides education for nursery to Class 9 students residing in his orphanage,” said the Vanasthalipuram inspector, Mr B. Ravinder Reddy.
“Malyadri stayed in an office on the hostel premises. While drunk at night, he used to call students of Classes 7, 8 and 9 to his office room. He then touched and pinched them on their private parts. If a girl refused to go to the office he used to beat them and exploit them sexually,” added the Vanastalipuram ACP, Mr B. Srinivas Reddy.
There are also reports that he used to force them to participate in sex and if they didn’t obey him he used to spit on their faces.
“There are several allegations and we are investigating. We have sent the girls for medical examinations. As per the complaint lodged by the girls, we have registered a case under Section 354 (outrage of modesty) of IPC and have started investigation,” said Mr Reddy.
Malyadri, who used to also take classes for civil service aspirants daily for four hours, told the police, “I had become a father and mother to them by providing them shelter. If the girls are making such allegations, I will leave this orphanage.”
He had started the orphanage with five orphans in 2006 initially at Sainagar colony in Alkapuri. Since the building was in a low-lying area, it would get submerged during rainy seasons and the government had later sanctioned 1,000 square yards in TV Colony at Vanasthalipuram for the orphanage to be relocated.
The orphanage had received huge donations from the public and Malyadri had constructed a building and relocated the orphanage there in January, 2010.
Sources say that Malyadri has also been involved in another controversy with the local MLA who helped him to relocate the orphanage to Vanasthalipuram. Apparently, a tussle had been going on for the past few months between the local MLA and Malyadri as the latter refused the proposal of the MLA to constitute a committee to monitor the Home’s activity.
“All allegations against me are wrong. I helped him to get the land and out of interest I visited the orphanage three to four times. For the past eight months I had been receiving several complaints against him and I had asked him to form a committee and look after the orphanage properly,” said the LB Nagar MLA, Mr D. Sudheer Reddy.
Incidentally, the orphanage is located in front of the Vanasthalipuram police station.
“He was running the orphanage in the land provided by Huda and by collecting donations,” added Mr Srinivas Reddy.