Bhubaneswar, Aug. 3: A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her school’s headmaster in Orissa’s Bhadrak district.

The 58-year-old headmaster, due to retire in two months, was today arrested and sent to the court following an FIR filed by the girl’s mother.

The accused, Ganesh Prasad Das, is the headmaster of Badakiyari Nodal School in Basudevepur area of the district.

Das had allegedly raped the girl yesterday after taking her to a vacant classroom on the pretext of teaching her numerical. According to the victim’s statement, she was playing at the school ground during recess when Das called him.

“He asked me some problems on arithmetic first. Then he rebuked me for not learning lessons properly. After that, he threatened to complain it to my parents and throw me out of school if I do not study well,” she said’.

After the initial discussion, Das asked her what problems she was facing at school and explained that maths was an easy subject. “He then asked me to accompany him to a room where he would teach me counting,” she said.

The accused had then reportedly raped her and threatened her not to disclose it to anyone.

“When I reached home after work, my daughter was crying. When I enquired, she told me all that had happened. I discussed it with her father and we immediately decided to file an FIR. It is a heinous crime. If things like this happen, why should we send our girls to schools?” asked the girl’s mother, Rama.

Das has been working in the school for the past several years and the incident has raised a storm in the area. “Things are under control after we arrested the headmaster of the school this morning,” said Rajendra Das, the inspector in charge of Bhadrak police station.

“We received an FIR from the victim’s mother and arrested him early this morning from his residence. He also confessed to the crime and we have forwarded him to jail,” the inspector said.

The headmaster even admitted to have committed the crime. “It happened in a weak moment. I admit that I have done a grave mistake. I do not blame the girl for having complained,” said Das.