“Babu Samuel was arrested from ICF Colony in Ambattur. His wife deserted him within two years of marriage in 2013 citing his behaviour, while he has been a warden of the home ever since its inception in the year 2000,” police said.

Chennai: Three days after shocking revelations of extensive sexual abuse in an orphanage in Tirumullaivoyal resulted in the arrest of two trustees and two maintenance staff of the orphanage, the Avadi All Women Police on Sunday nabbed the warden of the orphanage, Babu Samuel, who had been absconding.

Police identified Babu Samuel as the main accused since he had allegedly first started molesting the minors paving way for the maintenance staff — D. Baskar (39) of Ayanavaram and R. Muthu (27) of Tirumullaivoyal — to abuse them.

The couple Jacob (64) and his wife Vimala Jacob (59) of Villivakkam, trustees of Eternal Word Trust under which the orphanage functioned, were also arrested.

“Babu Samuel was arrested from ICF Colony in Ambattur. His wife deserted him within two years of marriage in 2013 citing his behaviour, while he has been a warden of the home ever since its inception in the year 2000,” police said.

“Babu Samuel used his room to molest children by inviting them to watch TV. After allegedly targeting girls, he slowly started abusing boys as well. The minors feared to raise a complaint against him,” the investigation officer said.

On Monday, about 20 boys of the orphanage will be taken to Tiruvallur government hospital for medical tests. On Saturday, 26 girls underwent a similar check-up.

The shocking incident came to light after some of the inmates complained of sexual abuse by the staff during a legal awareness programme in Tirumullaivoyal in the presence of magistrates and police officials.