A 35-year-old schoolteacher was arrested for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old girl at his residence on Wednesday afternoon.

The shocking incident took place in N block of Baishnabghata-Patuli Housing Estate, on the city?s south-eastern fringes. Angry residents thrashed the teacher before handing him over to police.

Gobindo Sarkar, a teacher at a Bagha Jatin school, was arrested under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code for trying to outrage the modesty of the minor, who had walked into his house responding to the call of ?kaku?, a friend of her father?s.

After allegedly molesting her, Sarkar tried to placate the girl, a student of Class III, by giving her Rs 10 to buy sweets and even promised to buy her gifts during the Pujas.

?This is an extremely unfortunate incident. Jadavpur police have already initiated a probe and a medical report of the victim has been sought. The teacher will be produced in court on Thursday,? said S.N. Gupta, superintendent of police, South 24-Parganas.

Around 11.40 am, the child was on her way back home from school. The driver of the school van, who usually drops her home every day, asked her to get off and walk a short distance after the vehicle developed a snag.

The girl was headed home when Sarkar spotted her from the ground-floor balcony of his rented house and called her in. With no one around, he allegedly molested her.

?Sarkar was friendly with the girl?s father and would often call on him. Both hailed from Bongaon, in North 24-Parganas, and would spend quite some together. Since he was a teacher of English, the girl?s parents were, in fact, planning to appoint him her tutor,? said Barnali Gupta, the girl?s aunt.

A resident of M block, she had rushed over after her niece returned home and burst into tears. For a while, the traumatised nine-year-old could not say what she had undergone. It was only after her mother pacified her did the girl manage to narrate the tale of horror.

The girl?s father, an employee of the state electricity board, was alerted and neighbours informed about the incident. A mob gathered outside Sarkar?s residence.

The teacher denied the allegation, saying he had called in the girl to inquire after her health. He was beaten up and the cops were called in.

?We had not noticed anything unusual during his year-and-a-half stay with us. He would often coach students at home. This has come as a shocking revelation to me,? said landlord Samir Roy Chaudhury.