Chennai Trekking Club founder’s antecedents under scanner

‘No preliminary training given to participants’

March 13, 2018 12:47 am | Updated 12:56 am IST - CHENNAI

CHENNAI, 20/03/2012: Of forests, streams and sloth bears: Peter Van Geit talks about his Chennai Trekking Club. “I am a bit of an explorer,” will seem like a light-hearted joke. Since he started the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) four years ago, this Belgian- turned-honorary Chennaite, spends most weekends “exploring beautiful places in South India".
Photo:M.Karunakaran

CHENNAI, 20/03/2012: Of forests, streams and sloth bears: Peter Van Geit talks about his Chennai Trekking Club. “I am a bit of an explorer,” will seem like a light-hearted joke. Since he started the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) four years ago, this Belgian- turned-honorary Chennaite, spends most weekends “exploring beautiful places in South India". Photo:M.Karunakaran

The city police have been checking the antecedents of the founder of the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) Peter Van Geit, a Beligian national settled in India.

The club’s office premises is now closed and its website does not provide details of those managing its affairs. Nor does it provide contact details. The CTC is registered as a not-for-profit organisation and claims 1,000 members.

A senior police officer said: “We are looking for the organiser who is not available in the specified address. We are also enquiring about his antecedents.”

According to the police, the CTC was established by Mr. Peter in 2008 and has been functioning from the house in Palavakkam which stood in the name of Bethel Kumar. Mr. Peter, after quitting his job here in the city, has been actively organising adventure sports activities such as trekking. The police said that a preliminary investigation revealed that the club functioned through Facebook, inviting customers to participate in the weekly trekking trips. Each trip costs around ₹4,000 per head. The ill-fated trekking expedition was advertised as a special offer to coincide with Women’s Day celebrations.

Although the club had said that it would organise preparatory sessions before the trip, no training was given to the participants, an officer said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.