Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) convenor Abhijit Dipke has been booked along with CJP’s Ajay Shinde and four to five unidentified persons for allegedly entering a Zilla Parishad school in Latur district without permission, questioning teachers in front of students, filming the proceedings and circulating the footage on social media.

The case was registered at Ausa police station on Saturday following a complaint by a 53-year-old Zilla Parishad education department employee.

According to the police record, the incident took place around 1.10 pm on August 20 at a Zilla Parishad school in Urdh Ausa, around two km from Ausa in Latur district.

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The complaint states that Dipke, Shinde and the unidentified persons entered the school premises and sat among the students. They allegedly questioned those present about teaching and government-related work, disrupting the functioning of the school.

The complainant claimed that the group recorded the proceedings and circulated the footage on social media. The complaint states that the footage portrayed the school in a manner suggesting that students from another school had been made to sit there, thereby defaming the institution.

The complainant further alleged that the accused confronted a teacher and, when questioned about their conduct, threatened him with suspension. The complaint records an alleged remark that the teacher would be suspended and had no shame.

“The accused persons, acting in connivance with each other, went and sat among the schoolchildren and asked various questions, thereby creating an obstruction in the teaching work and government work. They also entered the school without authorization, recorded the incident and made it viral in the media. Although the children were students of the same school, they alleged that students of another school had been made to sit there, thereby defaming the school. They also looked at the teacher there and said, “‘Yeh log haram ka khate hain’ (These people take illegal money) and threatened him, saying, ‘I will get you suspended,’” the First Information Report(FIR) states.

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The FIR alleges that the accused obstructed teaching and government work at the school. Police have invoked Section 132 of the BNS, which deals with assault or use of criminal force against a public servant to deter him from performing his duty, as well as Sections 329(3) (criminal trespass), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 356(2) (defamation) and 3(5) (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

Dipke had launched the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign on Independence Day in his native Hingoli after spearheading protests over the NEET paper leak, which led to the resignation of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The campaign aims to improve facilities in government schools.