The former cook of a private home for the visually impaired, whose founder-cum-secretary and principal have already been arrested on charges of rape and sexual harassment of visually impaired minor girls, was arrested in connection with the case on Friday.
All three persons — two men and a woman — were produced before the POCSO court in the city on Friday and have been remanded to police custody till September 16.
Police said three separate cases have been initiated based on complaints from three girls who have accused the former cook of rape and the founder-cum-secretary of outrage of modesty and sexual exploitation. The principal, who is a woman, has been mentioned in the complaints as the one who allegedly did nothing to stop the crime over the years despite having full knowledge of it, police said.
All three have been named as co-accused in the three cases.
“The investigation of all three cases will be taken over by the Special Juvenile Police Unit of the detective department. The accused have been remanded to police custody,” said joint commissioner (crime), Kolkata police, Shankha Shubhra Chakrabarty.
Police said a team of officers of the city police along with the officials of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights had conducted a raid at the premises of a private home in the southern fringes of the city on Thursday after receiving information about alleged
sexual exploitation at the home.
The founder-cum-secretary and the principal were detained and examined for several hours before being arrested on Thursday night.
The former cook, who was also picked up and questioned overnight, was arrested on Friday morning.
During the investigation it emerged that the cook was allegedly terminated due to complaints of sexual exploitation against him. However, the matter was not reported to the police or the child rights body.
Police said a total of 74 inmates, both boys and girls, who were living in the home, were shifted to different shelter homes under the Child Welfare Committee.
The three who have been charged in three separate cases have charges of aggravated penetrative sexual assault, rape, and outrage of modesty and the sections under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
Police said they will record the statement of the victims under section 164 of the CrPC for which a prayer has been submitted before the court.
