Headmistress, husband booked for killing parent for seeking refund of school fee

MUMBAI: A farmer was allegedly killed by a school headmistress's husband over a ₹3,000 fee refund dispute. Both are on the run, police are searching.

MUMBAI: A 42-year-old farmer from Parbhani district was allegedly killed by the husband of the headmistress of a school when he demanded a refund of the fee ₹3,000 after cancelling his daughter’s admission. The school’s headmistress, Ratna Chavan was the former sabhapati of the Panchayat Samiti, said police. Both she and her husband are on the run and a search is on to trace the duo, the police added.

Headmistress, husband booked for killing parent for seeking refund of school fee

The deceased was identified as Jagannath Pandurang Hedge, a resident of Ukhalad village of Parbhani tehsil.

According to the police, the incident occurred at 5 pm on Thursday when Hedge went to Hitech Residential School located in Enrandeshwar in Purna tehsil, to cancel his daughter’s admission, who was studying in class 2 of the residential school. After cancelling the admission, he collected the school leaving certificate and demanded the refund of ₹3,000 fee that he had paid. After the school staff refused his demand, he approached the headmistress Ratna Chavan. An argument broke out between the two after she refused to return the amount. After he started screaming, the school staff asked him to wait outside the main gate of the school, said a police officer and added that Hedge continued to shout from outside the school gate. Listening to his voice, the passerby started gathering to find out what was happening. The school staff feared that the reputation of the school would be damaged and reached out to the headmistress’s husband, Prabhakar Chavan, who was managing the school. He was not in the school premises at the time but arrived to solve the issue and asked the security guard to get Hegde to meet him, the police said.

A heated exchange of words took place between Hegde and Prabhakar Chavan, which soon turned into a physical scuffle. When Prabhakar Chavan pushed Hegde, he fell and lost consciousness, said a police officer.

He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where he was declared dead. The body was then shifted to a government hospital for post-mortem. “There were no external injuries on the body. We are awaiting the post-mortem report, which will reveal the exact cause of death,” said inspector Vilas Gobade of Purna police station and added that the accused husband and wife are absconding.

Hegde’s family approached the police and registered a case on Friday against Ratna Chavan and Prabhakar Chavan under sections 103(1) (murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of public peace), 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.