Coaching class teacher gets 20 years in jail for raping student

Thane: The Thane district court has sentenced a 44-year-old coaching class teacher to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment for raping a teenage student.

Additional Sessions Judge Maheshwari B Patwari convicted Sanjay Bhagchandani, resident of Koparkhairne in Navi Mumbai, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on him.

Special Public Prosecutor Vivek Kadu said the survivor, then 17, attended a coaching class where Bhagchandani taught accountancy.

In October 2019, he took the girl to his home and raped her, the prosecutor said.

He later blackmailed her by threatening to make her video viral and raped her on multiple occasions, as per the prosecution.

He was arrested after the girl finally told her parents about the ordeal and they approached police.

"The severity of the crime and its aftermath on the morale of society are such that it is to be severely dealt with. The sentence should be such that it should be proved deterrent," the court said while awarding punishment.