Denied smartphone, boy hangs himself

A 16-year-old boy reportedly committed suicide as his father refused to buy him a smartphone.

The deceased is C Gagan, a class 10 student at Vidyanagar Government High School in Chikkajala.

He hanged himself from the ceiling of an under-construction building in Chikkajala in the early hours of Wednesday, the police said.

Gagan’s father Channakrishna, a farmer, said his son was asking for a smartphone. He would claim that his classmates brought smartphones to the school and mocked at him for not having one.

On Tuesday night, Gagan fought with his father and threatened to leave home if he did not get the phone. Channakrishna promised him to buy the phone after he successfully completed the SSLC examination.

Following the fight, Gagan left the house at around 3 am, went to the under-construction building owned by his father and hung himself, the police said.

His mother alerted Channakrishna after she found Gagan missing in the morning. Later, they found him hanging at the building site.

They informed the police, who rushed to the spot and shifted the body for post-mortem.

A case of unnatural death has been registered at the Chikkajala police station and further investigations are underway.