Bhubaneswar, Dec. 6: The director of a child development centre at Dashamantpur block of Koraput district was today sent to jail on charges of sexually exploiting minor girls.
Koraput sadar police yesterday arrested the accused, Phillip George, 51, from a bus stand after seven inmates of the centre at Podagada lodged complaint on Wednesday.
The NGO-run centre gives shelter to poor children and takes care of their study.
A girl, whom the director had raped in the past two years, said they had brought the matter to the notice of the manager. After confronting George, manager China Babu Hial informed the issue to the head office. But, no action was taken against him.
Koraput superintendent of police Abinash Kumar said: “We have served notice on the NGO.”
An official said the victims had lodged the complaint on Tuesday. According to the complainants, George used to call the girls to his bedroom and raped them. A Class VII victim said that on a September evening, George had called her to his bedroom and raped her there. The next day, the victim informed the matter to her friends and they reported it to the centre manager.
George, who had gone to Rayagada, threatened the inmates after getting back to the centre.
In another incident, Puri police are yet to trace French national Mathieu Furic, who was booked by the police allegedly for having unnatural sex with children on sea beach.
Officials of the General Consulate of France in Calcutta today also spoke to Puri police regarding this incident. The police said they had interacted with four victims aged between 10 and 13 years.
The police booked Furic on December 2 after another US national James Foster Gorman, 45, saw him getting indulged in paedophilia with a group of boys on Penthakata beach on November 26. The US national had also recorded a conversation with the children and handed over the footage to the police.
The police found that Furic had checked out of his hotel on November 26 though he had earlier told the hotel employees to leave Puri on November 28.
