Balangir, May 13: Balangir police have arrested the management chief of a private residential school for employing students in a hotel owned by him.

The accused, Ratnakar Sahu, alias Gobinda bhai, has been remanded in judicial custody. Inspector in charge of town police station Tariq Ahmed said it was a case of child rights violation. “We have arrested him.He has been sent to Balangir jail.”

Yesterday, the police arrested Gobinda bhai, after a student’s father lodged a police complaint here that Sahu had forced his minor son to work in the hotel.

The matter came to light when Tankadhar Bagarty of Khaprakhole came to Balangir to take his son Saroj, 13, as the school closed for summer vacation. But, he did not find his son in the school, and school employees could not provide any information about Saroj. He then decided to meet Sahu, who runs a hotel on the premises of the government bus stand.

To his utter surprise, Bagarty found his son peeling potatoes in the hotel. Bagarty said: “My son said he and other students had been forced to work in the hotel for the past several months.”

Sources said Gobinda bhai was a devotee of Asaram bapu and earlier used to run a school in the name of the godman. .