Khandapara: Two days after a video of a teacher being assaulted after being tied to a banyan tree and garlanded with slippers by the owner of private coaching centre went viral, the Khandapara police swung into action and shut down the centre Sunday.
Acting on a complaint by the teacher, Mayadhar Mahapatra, police registered a case and launched a manhunt to nab the centre owner Tapan Kumar Mohapatra and his two associates who had circulated the video on social media platforms.
“A special team has been formed to nab the main accused Tapan Kumar Mahapatra and his two associates who have been absconding after the incident,” Khandapara IIC said.
Police also took details from the teacher Mayadhar who revealed the alleged misdeeds in the coaching centre. Claiming threat to his life, he has asked for police protection as the miscreants were allegedly threatening him to withdraw the case.
According to the complaint, Mayadhar from Karabar village under Bhapur block was a teacher at Satyasai Tutorials in Kantilo of Nayagarh district. However, he stopped taking classes after the owner did not pay his salary and harassed him on various counts. Many teachers had also faced the same situation and left the coaching centre due to ill-treatment of Mahapatra.
With no teacher willing to work in the centre, Mahapatra forced Mayadhar to continue the classes. However, when he refused and instead asked for his pay, Mahapatra called him to an isolated place on the pretext of paying his salary and along with two associates detained Mayadhar.
The three tied the teacher to a banyan tree and gagged his mouth with sand and polythene before garlanding him with shoes. Mahapatra then abused and assaulted him as one of his associates shot the entire act.
Later, they threatened him with dire consequences if he disclosed the matter to anyone and left him. However, the miscreants themselves uploaded the video and fell in the trap of the police after the video went viral.
PNN
