Gwalior ragging case: FIR against 3 students, school suspends staff

Police on Tuesday booked three students and two staffers of the prestigious Scindia School in Gwalior in connection with the alleged suicide attempt by son of a Bihar minister due to ragging.

The school management too cracked the whip against the accused, expelling the three students and suspending the house master and the assistant house master for negligence on the recommendations of its special committee which probed the matter.

Fourteen-year-old Adarsh Singh, son of Bihar Cooperatives Minister Jai Kumar Singh, was found in an unconscious state on August 20 evening in a hostel room. His father alleged that he was harassed in school and suspected foul play.

The FIRs were registered against the minor boys and staffers Arpan Soni and Parampreet Grewal, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mohammad Yusuf Qureshi told PTI.

Police have recorded the statement of the boys.

"After recording statements of the three senior boys belonging to influential families, we found out that Adarsh attempted suicide as the trio used to harass him by asking him to do menial jobs," the ASP said.

Police have also seized a bed sheet and a ceiling fan from the veranda in front of Adarsh's hostel room. He allegedly tried to hang himself from the fan using the sheet but his feet touched the floor and the fan got unstuck from ceiling, which saved his life, Qureshi said.

The trio allegedly forced him to sweep the floor and also used to sometimes punish him asking him to bend down in various positions. They also allegedly beat him up, police said.

Terming the incident as "shocking and disturbing", the school management, in a statement, said it has a zero tolerance policy towards indiscipline and as a proactive step it had set up the special committee consisting of the principal, vice principal and an eminent entrepreneur of Gwalior who is the parent of a former student of the school.

The school has also deputed a teacher at the hospital to look after any requirement for Adarsh's medical care, the statement said.

District Collector P Narhari had ordered a probe by Sub Divisional Magistrate S Saxena into the matter while ASP Qureshi was also asked to separately conduct an inquiry.

Adarsh was taken to a private hospital for treatment and when his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to a private hospital in Delhi.