Best friend: Deceased was not forced to drink poison

NILAI: A police report lodged by a friend of S. Pravin, 15, who died a week after he was allegedly forced to drink poison by school bullies, has shed new light on the mystery behind his death.

District police chief Superitendent Zaldino Zaludin said based on the report lodged by the witness, who was the deceased’s best friend, last night, police believe that no foul play was involved in Pravin’s death.

“Based on the witness’s statement, we found that unrequited love was the cause of the teen’s death. The witness said he met Pravin prior to the incident behind a supermarket here on April 26 at 2pm, where the latter had admitted that he wanted to consume poison due to unrequited love,” said Zaldino.

“The witness claimed that he saw Pravin with a bottle containing blue liquid believed to be poison during the meeting. He had tried to stop the latter from consuming it. However, his advice was ignored.

“The witness claimed that he was terrified and left his friend, and saw the latter walking into a nearby plantation,” said Zaldino yesterday.

Pravin died at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital at 9.30pm on Tuesday.

On the allegation that a group of students was involved in the incident, Zaldino said, based on the statement recorded from the witness, the claim was made up as he was afraid of being scolded by the deceased’s family.

“Investigation is ongoing. We will call the parents of the deceased to record their statements under Section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Code,” he said.