BHUBANESWAR: The death of a 14-year-old student of KISS school here might have been hushed up had villagers in his native Keonjhar, 220 km away, not staged a protest on Dec 13. City police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh on Wednesday revealed that the boy was strangled by three hostelmates — called the “joker’s gang” among their classmates — following a petty scuffle.The boy’s father said the school authorities claimed his son died after slipping in the bathroom on Dec 11. “In an attempt to suppress the incident, the school did not inform police. My son was taken to KIMS Hospital, part of the same group of institutions, but doctors neither conducted a post-mortem (PM) examination nor alerted police authorities, despite visible ligature marks on his neck. Instead, they told me he suffered a heart attack,” he alleged.
In violation of protocols, the hospital handed over the body on Dec 12 without registering it as a medico-legal case (MLC). MLCs are mandatory in cases of unnatural or suspicious deaths, requiring police investigation to establish the cause and circumstances.As the family prepared for cremation, villagers noticed red and dark patches on the boy’s neck. Alarmed, they staged a dharna demanding a thorough probe. “Our protest forced officials to act. A PM examination was ordered at Dharanidhar Medical College and Hospital in Keonjhar on Dec 13. Following this, the boy’s father lodged a complaint at Town police station, alleging negligence by KISS authorities that led to his son’s death,” a neighbour said.A zero FIR was registered in Keonjhar and transferred the same day to Infocity police station in Bhubaneswar, where further investigation is underway. “We received the post-mortem report on Tuesday evening. It confirmed the boy was murdered by strangulation,” commissioner Singh said.Villagers have demanded strict action against the hospital authorities. “It was the hospital’s duty to conduct a PM and inform the police. Instead, they looked the other way and acted hand-in-glove with the school authorities,” another villager alleged. Attempts to contact the hospital and school authorities did not elicit any response.
