Private school’s principal held for ‘blackmailing women’

Police on Monday arrested the principal of an unregistered private school in Gulshan-e-Hadeed over allegedly pressuring over 25 teachers and staff members into engaging in sexual activities with him, then blackmailing them.

The District Malir police chief told the media that the law enforcers had found a total of 25 video clips on the suspect’s mobile phone. SSP Hassan Sardar said the suspect enticed women by offering them employment, then forced them into engaging in sexual activities with him. He also recorded the obscene acts to blackmail the women, added the officer.

He said that five women had confirmed to the investigators that they had been victims of the principal, identified as Irfan, who coerced them into engaging in sexual activities in his office. Police are gathering more information from the women and looking for the suspect’s other victims, he added.

The scandal emerged after an obscene video clip of the principal and a teacher was found on the internet. Sindh’s caretaker education minister Rana Hussain took notice of the matter and ordered an inquiry against the suspect.

Complying with the minister’s order, the Directorate of Inspection & Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (Dirpis) formed an inquiry committee, which comprises Deputy Director Qurban Ali Bhutto, Assistant Director Mumtaz Hussain Qambrani and Assistant Director Javed Akhtar.

Dirpis Additional Registrar Rafia Javed said the inquiry committee would visit the school to ascertain the details of the scandal, and action would be taken on the committee’s findings and recommendations.

She added that the school where the incident reportedly took place was not registered with the directorate, so Dirpis has written to the district administration to immediately seal the school.

Moreover, Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori has instructed School Education Secretary Akbar Leghari to submit a report on the matter. Expressing anger over the scandal, Tessori directed the Karachi police chief to take legal action against all the perpetrators. Sindh police chief Riffat Mukhtar directed the Malir SSP to thoroughly investigate the scandal. IGP Mukhtar asserted that the case would be brought to a logical conclusion.