Bhubaneswar: The headmaster of a residential school in Odisha’s Sundargarh district was allegedly beaten up and garlanded with shoes by the villagers today for his alleged sexual overtures towards women.

The police have arrested four villagers and launched a probe into the incident.

As per reports, a group of villagers assaulted Rahit Kumar Ray, the in-charge headmaster of a residential school at Khajurdihi under Koida police limits, after accusing him of repeated sexual overtures towards women.

The villagers, including some women, also placed a garland of shoes around Ray’s neck and paraded him in the village as per the verdict of a Kangaroo court. On being informed, the police rushed to the spot and rescued the headmaster.

On the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim, the cops arrested four villagers in connection with the incident and produced them in a local court.

The villagers, meanwhile, alleged that the headmaster had made sexual advances towards many women of the village. Besides, he reportedly developed an extra-marital affair with the cook of the residential school and forced the woman to desert her husband and their three children. Furthermore, the headmaster allegedly threatened to kill her husband, they said.

“The headmaster was earlier arrested on charges of sexual misconduct,” said a villager.