Keonjhar, Sept. 17: Police today arrested a cook-cum-attendant of a government-run primary school at Binida in Ghatagaon block here on the charge of molesting a 10-year-old girl student boarder.

The 48-year-old offender, Mukunda Rana, was arrested after headmaster Rabindra Kumar Barik filed a complaint against him with the local police station yesterday.

According to the FIR lodged by Barik, the accused had called the Class I student to his room after lunch on Sunday.

He allegedly bolted the door of his room from inside and molested her.

The girl brought this matter to the notice of the headmaster in the evening, following which he filed an FIR against Rana on Monday.

Assistant superintendent of the school Pramila Mohanta, who is also in charge of the girls’ hostel, was absent when the incident took place, the FIR said.

The girl used to stay in the school’s hostel along with 19 other inmates.

“The girl narrated the incident to me on Sunday evening. I asked the accused and he confessed to the crime. Immediately, I reported the matter to the higher authorities and finally filed a complaint with the local police yesterday,” said Barik.

“We have arrested the accused today on the basis of a complaint made by the headmaster. Rana has confessed to sexually assaulting the girl. We have conducted a medical examination on both the accused and the victim at the government hospital today,” said Saroj Kumar Malik, inspector in charge of Pandapada police station.

The accused was arrested under Section 354 (A) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

He was produced in a local court today and was later sent in judicial remand as his bail plea was rejected.

Rana has also been suspended from the service and a new female cook has been appointed for the hostel, the headmaster said.