Boy’s death in school hostel sparks a row

CHENNAI Sep 14, 2007

Boy’s death in school hostel sparks a row

Thursday September 13 2007 11:13 IST

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The death of a class XI student inside the dormitory of Velammal International School hostel in Ponneri near Chennai early on Wednesday has sparked a row with his local guardian alleging that he was murdered.

School authorities, however, insisted that the boy, Mohammed Bilal (19), had died due to medical reasons. The police have registered a case of suspicious death.

The boy’s parents are based in Saudi Arabia and Periyakulam Congress MP J M Haroon was his local guardian. On Wednesday, school authorities had brought Bilal to a corporate hospital in Chennai where doctors declared him dead.

Relatives and his guardian who examined his body, however, raised suspicion over the cause of his death and demanded a thorough investigation by the police. Bilal was physically fit and an active basketball player in the school. We found blood clots on his eye and ribs. There were even traces of soap on his head, which makes us suspect if someone had attempted to wash away the blood stains, Haroon said at the hospital.

However, when contacted, a member of the school staff, preferring anonymity, said that Bilal was suffering from low blood pressure and epileptic attacks and there was nothing unnatural about his death.