Gurugram redux: Teen killed by senior in Guj school toilet

AHMEDABAD: A newly enrolled Class 9 student was stabbed to death in the toilet of his school in Vadodara, allegedly by a senior schoolmate, on Friday, in an echo of a similar incident in Gurugram, on the outskirts of New Delhi, last year.

“The body of 14-year-old Dev Tadvi was found from the first floor toilet in Bhartiya Vidhyalay in Beranpura with multiple wounds all over the body inflicted with sharp weapons,’’ said a police officer who reached the spot. The murder may have been premeditated, said the police, who recovered a schoolbag full of sharp weapons and a bottle filled with water that had been mixed with chilli powder from the terrace of a temple adjacent to the school. “The police have apprehended four students and interrogation is on,” Vadodara commissioner of police, Manoj Shashidhar, said.

The suspected killer is on the run and the students being questioned are eyewitnesses to the murder, the officer said . At a private school in Gurugram, a Class 2 boy was found with his throat slit outside a toilet on September 8, 2017. The police had arrested a 16-year-old boy in the case. They said the student committed the murder to get an approaching examination and a parentteacher meeting postponed. In the Vadodara case, preliminary investigation revealed Tadvi and other boys from the school were at odds over the past couple of days.

The school bag, which belongs to the murder suspect, contained three knives of different sizes and the bottle filled with chilli powder water, the police officer said. Another knife, found near the body, was 12 inches long.

“Tadvi had taken admission in to the school only from this academic year, which began a fortnight back,” said Avni Barot, an administrator at the school. “Secondary classes start at noon, but Tadvi and other accused had arrived at the school early when sessions for primary standards were on. Around 11.50, a group of primary students informed some teachers about Tadvi lying in a pool of blood. He breathed his last before an ambulance could reach.’’

The police said CCTV footage obtained from the school will be helpful in establishing the sequence of events. Tadvi has been living with his maternal aunt and uncle in Vadodara. His parents are settled in Bakhol village in nearby Anand.

His father Bhagwanbhai, who works at a small snacks shop in the village and was driven to Vadodara by the shop’s owner, said: ”My son did not like his previous school and I had insisted that he come back to the village. But he was doing well at studies. So as per his wish, we shifted him to a new school.”

He added, “I had no idea that his this decision would take him away from us forever. He was my only son. We are now left with only a daughter.”