Bhubaneswar, Sept. 23: Berhampur police have arrested a teacher of Jawahar Navodaya School in Nayagarh on charges of sexually abusing hostel students. He was handed over to the Nayagarh police in the afternoon.

Students of the school alleged that the accused, their computer teacher, Chandrasekhar Choudhury, 30, had been sexually harassing around 36 boys for the past one-and-half years. They complained to the principal about this on Friday.

Following the complaint, the school authorities held a staff meeting. However, by that time Choudhury had escaped. The authorities then lodged a complaint with the town police.

The Berhampur police caught Choudhury from Badabazar in Berhampur.

Choudhury, a contractual employee, used to stay in the hostel.

“He used to sexually harass us. Whenever we resisted his attempts, he would beat us up. He threatened that he would not allow us to pass in the examination and transfer us from the school,” said a Class VII student.

These students said though they had informed the matter to four other teachers, no steps were taken.

Hussain Ayappa, the principal of the school, said though the students were being harassed for over a year, the teachers had not informed him.

“When I came to know about the matter, I informed the higher authorities. We will also conduct an internal inquiry into the matter,” said Ayappa.

The students and their parents staged a protest on the campus following which Nayagarh collector Muralikant Barik ordered sub-collector Manas Ranjan Debata to inquire into the matter.

Debata said that on preliminary investigation the allegations were true.

“The teacher has pressurised the students to keep mum. Some other teachers followed suit. We have lodged a complaint against the accused teacher and others have been issued showcause notices as they did not inform the principal despite knowing about the matter,” said the sub-collector.

There are 227 students in the school and 36 boys stay in the hostel.