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AIR official booked for molesting 8-year-old

The director of the All India Radio station at Nagpur, Hemant Karande, was arrested on Friday night on a charge of molesting an eight-year-old girl.

Karande, however, maintained that it was a "cooked-up" story.

A police press release said the 53-year-old was arrested on a complaint from the girl's father, who is an announcer with AIR. The girl had accompanied her father to the director's house at about 2000 IST on Thursday.

On the pretext of showing the girl his house, the director took her to his bedroom where he molested her, the complaint said.

The release said the director was arrested under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.

He was released on bail an hour later.

Karande's version is that a section of the AIR staff, antagonised by his measures to enforce discipline since he assumed charge five months ago, was behind the complaint.

It was true that the father and daughter came to his house to "present" him a necktie, he said. He had offered them sweets, and the girl had sat in his lap in the presence of her father, but he never realised that he was in for trouble, he added.

He said the announcer concerned was asked to proceed to AIR's Dhulia station for some recording. The announcer avoided the trip by producing a medical certificate.

"I have a married daughter who is a college lecturer. I cannot imagine doing the alleged act. It is a conspiracy against me. I have reported the entire matter to the higher-ups in Delhi," Karande said.

UNI

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