Bengaluru: A day after a 13-year-old student of a residential school in Bengaluru North died on campus, doctors privy to post-mortem reportedly informed police the boy died due to cardiac arrest and not from injuries sustained in alleged assault.Following a complaint from the boy’s father Raghavendra R that the boy was hit before morning jogging rounds, police booked physical education teacher Narayana on murder charges.Gurukiran R, a Class VI student of Sterling English Residential School at Kadayarappanahalli, collapsed during jogging at 6.42am Wednesday. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and later referred to Akash Hospital in Devanahalli, where doctors declared him dead.A senior police officer told TOI they were waiting for the official post-mortem report from the doctors.As part of investigations, police recorded teacher Narayana’s statement. They examined CCTV footage from the school, but said they found no evidence showing the teacher assaulting Gurukiran near the washroom, as alleged by some of his classmates.“The teacher did not go near the washroom. The boy was suffering from health issues such as diarrhoea on Wednesday,” police said.Raghavendra and his family visited Gurukiran at the school on July 5. On the evening of July 7, Narayana reportedly called Raghavendra requesting payment for Gurukiran’s karate uniform. Gurukiran, too, spoke to his father during the call. Raghavendra assured him he would transfer the amount the next day.The following morning, the family was aghast to get a call that Gurukiran had collapsed while jogging.Raghavendra’s complaint was based on claims made by his son’s classmates. As per the complaint, a student claimed the PT teacher struck Gurukiran with a steel rod. Another student allegedly claimed Gurukiran collapsed after 2-3 rounds of jogging. Another PT teacher, Jeevan, rushed him to hospital.Gurukiran’s father alleged CCTV cameras were removed from key areas to destroy evidence, fuelling suspicions that evidence had been destroyed. Holding Narayana, the school management and owners responsible for his son’s death, he demanded strict legal action. Soon after the news broke out on Wednesday morning, angry mob that descended on the campus turned its ire on Narayana.Boys’ accounts come under cloudDid statements made by Gurukiran’s classmates send cops on a wild goose chase? While it’s too early to dismiss the boys’ claims that Gurukiran was assaulted as unfounded and far from the truth, police investigations are not lending credence to their narrative.Police, during investigation, found that one student admitted he was angry with teacher Narayana for punishing him two days ago over some mischievous activity. A Class 7 student, a roommate of Gurukiran, accused Narayana of assaulting Gurukiran with a steel rod while asking him to rush for jogging on time, Raghavendra’s complaint stated.However, police said the students’ claims fell flat when juxtaposed with the sequence of events narrated by others in the case. “Since boys are students and minors, we cannot take action against them (for misleading police),” police said.
