Monitor 'kills' classmate to enforce discipline

The victim was flung on the bench that led to his death

This incident comes nearly four months after Sneha Jha, another city school student, laced her tiffin with rat poison to kill her classmates, as she was envious of their academic supremacy.

According to police, Rupesh Podder, a student of Sarvodaya Vidyalaya near Ultadanga in the northern part of the city, refused to oblige class monitor Surendra Singh Choudhury after the teacher stepped out of the class.

A scuffle broke out between the two on July 2 last and the physically stronger monitor flung Rupesh on to the bench, hurting him in the stomach, chest and head.

A scared Rupesh declined to complain either to the teacher or parents about the brawl and the “punishment” meted out to him. He was suffering from fever and attended the school with severe stomach pain for some days, after which he fell completely sick. When the house physician’s medicine failed to respond, the worried parents got him admitted to R G Kar Medical college here  and the kid expired on July 8, investigations revealed.
The parents later learnt the incident from one of Rupesh’s friends, following which they lodged a complaint with the police.

 “Had he not hidden the incident from us, we could have saved our child,” grieved Rupesh’s mother.

Police, who already interrogated Singh thrice to verify the incident and spoke to couple of his friends in the class, are presently awaiting the post mortem report.

“If the report mentions that the death is due to external injuries, we will take appropriate action,” an official said. If the report fixes the cause on external injuries, Surendra will be produced before a juvenile court for trial.

Sneha had killed her friends Payal and Jyoti with rat poison as she was envious of their academic supremacy.

In the case of Surendra,  it was absolutely a fit of rage that brought about the tragedy, for which he regretted to the police.