Navi Mumbai: A woman has accused a chess coach arrested in a molestation case of beating her five-year-old son. The tutor, Saurabh Barve (33), was booked on July 30 for molesting two students at a private abacus academy at Sector 21 in Nerul. He was arrested on July 31 at his residence in Dombivali. He had told the police that he was patting the back of the students for doing well and they had misunderstood him.
On Tuesday, the woman, a resident of Nerul, said, “My son was fond of chess and I enrolled him in Barve’s class. That was the worst decision I made. I didn’t know that Barve hit my son every day. He was so traumatised that he was afraid to attend the classes and began to wet his pants. When I confronted the woman who ran the academy, she enquired with my son. He said Barve sir regularly hit him in class.”
The mother said, “Earlier, I used to drag him to class as I had paid the fees. After learning that my son was assaulted, I discontinued the classes. When I told him that his sir was arrested, he was so happy. My son tells me that Barve also used to hit other students. I hope more parents come forward and register a complaint against him. The police should begin an investigation in housing societies that had terminated the services of the coach.”
Senior inspector Ashok Rajput from Nerul police station said, “Barve is now in judicial custody. We have attached the statement of the parent in the FIR. If any other parent has similar complaints, we urge them to come forward.”
Barve was arrested under Sections 8 (sexual assault) and 9 (f) (sexual assault by staff at educational institution) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.