Nagpur: Police on Thursday made the first arrests in the Gadchiroli ashramshala snakebite deaths case, taking into custody principal Prashant Tatpalliwar and hostel superintendent Bhaskar Bhoyar, less than 24 hours after naming them in an FIR.Gadchiroli SP M Ramesh confirmed the arrests in connection with the deaths of three tribal girl students at Japatlai ashramshala in Dhanora taluka on Aug 10.Dhanora police have registered crime No. 86 under provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Juvenile Justice Act. Besides Tatpalliwar and Bhoyar, the FIR names woman hostel superintendent Bhagyashree Chinlamwar and members of trust management, which runs the ashramshala, Marotrao Kowase and his son Vishwajeet, as co-accused.Earlier, the govt initiated the process to cancel permission of Japatlai ashramshala after the snakebite deaths and ordered an audit of 533 aided ashramshalas in the state.Reacting to the development, Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that the monthly grant of Rs2,000 per student for ashramshalas has remained unchanged since before 2014. “Ashramshalas are expected to cover food, books, clothing, oil and other necessities despite a sharp rise in prices over the years,” he said, adding that the cost of cooking oil alone had increased from around Rs70 per litre to nearly Rs200 per litre during the period.
