Police Clueless on Chandanagar Boy’s Suicide

Hyderabad:The Chandanagar police on Thursday said that they are examining the death of a nine-year body from all angles. Though the case was registered as a suicide, the police have not yet clarified on the provocation for the death yet.

A source at the Chandanagar police station said that reported harassment at school over a uniform may have triggered the suicide. “He was asking his parents to buy him a new uniform and `100 to buy some eatables. He was reportedly upset when he did not get either. We are, however, still investigating the reasons,” the source revealed.

The boy’s father, who also works as a driver at the school, told Deccan Chronicle that he believes the death was a suicide but is unable to point to any specific reason behind it. “There was no issue or problem that we are aware of. He was a very cheerful boy,” he said, adding that the family is still trying to come to terms with the incident.

However, investigating officer Sham Prasad said they are trying to ascertain whether it was an accidental death. “The exact cause is not known yet. The boy’s father worked at the school, and the fee and uniform were free of cost. We suspect it could have happened accidentally, but we are investigating.”

According to the complaint filed by the child’s father on December 16, the boy was studying in Class IV at a private school in Chandanagar, where his elder brother is also a student. The family lives close to the school, and both children routinely walked to school.

On December 16, at around 8 am, students of Class 3 and Class 4 were taken to the school playground as part of a regular activity. The younger boy was among them and was later dropped back at the school by the complainant in the school bus at around 12.40 pm. The children returned home from school at about 4.30 pm.

At around 5.30 pm, the complainant received a phone call from his wife, who informed him that their younger son had gone into the bathroom and had not come out for a long time.

After receiving no response, she looked through the bathroom window and found the child dead behind the door. With the help of neighbours, the door was forced open and the child was rushed to a private hospital. Within 20 minutes, doctors declared him dead at around 6 pm.

The father subsequently contacted the school authorities, who told him that no untoward incident had occurred at the school. The body of the minor was handed over to the family after a postmortem at the Gandhi mortuary. The family completed the final rites in Medak on Thursday.