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Macchindra Chate threatened my family: SSC ex-topper

Swati Kulkarni in Bombay

The Chate Classes controversy took a menacing turn today when a former SSC topper came forward to reveal that the organisation had falsely claimed her as a student and its owner, Macchindra Chate, had abused and threatened her family when they filed a police complaint about the misuse of her name and photograph.

Speaking to reporters in Mantralaya, Nagpur resident Vishakha Gupta related her unpleasant experience with Chate Classes in the presence of Minister of State for School Education Anil Deshmukh. When she topped the Secondary School Certificate examination in 1998, some people from Chate Classes came to her house to felicitate her and took some photographs.

In no time, the photographs began appearing in all leading newspapers with Chate Classes claiming her as their student. She and her parents objected to this crude attempt to corner glory. "The reason for my objection was that students from successive batches begin to emulate the toppers," she explained.

Immediately, Vishakha also made it quite clear that she owed her success to her teacher, Athavale, and her parents. She admitted that she had attempted a test series of Chate. But that was about it.

When Chate Classes continued making false claims despite their protests, her father, Dr Suresh Gupta, lodged a civil complaint. Soon after that, an official from Chate's met the Gupta family to placate them. He offered two cheques, one for Rs 10,000 and another for Rs 65,000, requesting Vishakha to give in writing that she was a Chate student, which she flatly refused.

While one cheque was cleared, the other bounced following which Gupta lodged a criminal complaint against Chate Classes. It was then that things took a turn for the worse. Chate, his wife and brother Gopichand Chate began making abusive and threatening calls to the Guptas. Gopichand Chate even threatened them with dire consequences.

Fed up with the threats, they withdrew the case, Gupta said.

When asked whether the Vishakha Gupta case would be reopened, Anil Deshmukh said the inquiry committee headed by Joint Commissioner of Police D Sivanandan would probe all aspects of the controversy.

Earlier, Dadasaheb Patil, principal of Vivekananda College in Kolhapur, where current HSC topper Madan Nagargoje was a student, remarked, "Some vested interests are out to corner our hard-earned glory. It appears that Madan has fallen prey to allurement. Neither the boy nor his parents have made an attempt to meet me. Maybe, his guilty conscience is keeping him away."

He disclosed that he had received an anonymous call asking him to dissociate from Madan's success. But he insisted that credit for Madan's success should go to Vivekananda College alone, and no one else, especially because the boy had received special coaching from his teachers.

He called upon parents to desist from sending their children to coaching classes. He said he planned to deny admission to students attending coaching classes.

ALSO SEE:
Coaching classes face flak

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