Hyderabad, May 19: A 10-year-old boy was allegedly abused sexually by seniors at an institution of Vedic learning run by the Tirumala temple board in possibly the first such scandal to rock the country’s richest shrine.

The parents of the victim have pulled their child out of Veda Pathshala and approached the state human rights commission, which has asked the institute’s management to submit a report within a week. No police complaint has been filed, possibly for fear of social stigma.

The parents said their son had told them he and six other juniors were abused for months by the seniors who also forced them to watch obscene video clips on mobiles at the pathshala in Dharmagiri, only 15km from Lord Venkateswara’s temple in the hill town of Tirumala.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which runs the pathshala and all educational institutions under its fold, has rusticated the four seniors allegedly involved in the abuse and suspended admissions for the academic session starting July.

TTD executive officer Y.R. Krishna Rao said the victim and his family had been promised all support. But his parents were not convinced. “My boy is shattered. We are upset more by the indifferent attitude of senior TTD officials,” said the mother.