Class 8 hosteller was homesick, killed a junior so that school declared a holiday

KOLKATA: A Class 8 student of a boarding school in West Bengal’s Purulia has been taken into custody on charges that he killed a younger student so that the authorities declare a holiday, police said.

The 14-year-old suspect wanted the authorities to declare a holiday so that he could go home, Purulia superintendent of police (SP) Avijit Banerjee told reporters.

The suspect was produced before the juvenile justice board on Tuesday and was sent to a juvenile home.

The victim, a Class 1 student of the same school, was found dead on the bank of a pond a few hundred metres from the school. His family later complained to the local police accusing the school of negligence.

Banerjee said the boy told the police that he believed that if someone dies or a major incident takes place, the school declares a holiday. “Hence, he killed the six-year-old boy. We are verifying his statement,” the Purulia SP said.

An officer at the Manbazar police station said the suspect told officers that he lured the victim away from the school with a chocolate. “He then used a stone to bludgeon the victim to death,” the officer said.