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Sex scandal rocks another educational institution in TN

A fresh sex scandal in a private educational institution is now rocking Tamil Nadu which had, in recent past, been buffeted by similar scandals in ashrams and religious places that also involved personnel of the state police force.

Meeran Mohideen Bharati, managing director of a chain of private nursing schools and technical and teachers' training institutes, and his brother, Kichali, were arrested four days ago at Tirunelveli, on charges of attempt to murder and attempt to rape girl students at his Pettai institute.

The scandal came to light when one of the students petitioned the police. Twentyone students had also filed complaints with the police seeking return of their original plus-2 certificates.

According to the affidavit filed by one of the workers at the Pettai school, Mohideen had been sexually exploiting the girl students and threatening them that he would fail them if they resisted his advances. Two of the exploited girls hailing from Panruti even forced him to marry them, but later filed for divorce.

Following the arrests, the chain of institutions run by Mohideen started closing down, leaving more than 400 students shell-shocked. The students also discovered, to their horror, that the institutions had no official recognition as claimed by Mohideen. More than 50 irate students at the Triplicane nursing school in Madras gheraoed his wife, Nasira, on Friday last demanding return of the fees collected from them.

The students, who had paid huge sums to register for the nursing courses, had deserted the institutions and the neighbouring hostels. A special police party which had raided the Pettai school recovered condom packs and even aphrodisiacs.

After the scandal involving self-styled godman Premananda made news three years ago, a Christian priest from Marthandam in Kanyakumari district, John Joseph, was arrested for allegedly exploiting his ashram inmates. The latest scandal which made headlines in Tamil dailies and magazines was a lesbian affair involving two policewomen at Tiruchirapalli.

UNI

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