Accused student’s bone test done to ascertain his age

Vadodara: The school student, who has been caught for murdering Dev Tadvi, a 14-year-old class IX boy, underwent a bone test on Sunday to ascertain his age.
Investigators said that the boy’s documents show that he is more than 16 years old but they wanted to have medical opinion as well. “The boy’s documents show that he is 16 years and six months old. But we did his bone test to have a medical proof as well,” said S G Patil, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), E division. When asked if the boy will be tried like an adult as he is above 16 years, Patil said that is for the courts to decide.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 has lowered the age of juveniles from 18 years to 16 years for heinous crimes including murder. “We will make efforts to see that he is tried as an adult,” Patil said.

On Sunday, the accused was taken to Shri Bharti School to reconstruct the sequence of events on the day he committed murder.

The boy showed the cops how he met Dev in the lobby near the washroom and took him inside before stabbing him multiple times. He also showed the route from which he fled after killing Dev. The accused had told investigators that he killed Dev as he wanted to get back at his school to avenge being reprimanded by a teacher for not doing homework.

The boy’s planning was fool-proof as he even removed his shirt before stabbing Dev so that it wouldn’t get stained. Interestingly, the boy, who planned the murder so well, missed out on the CCTV right outside the washroom that grabbed his images moments before he committed the crime. Also, he didn’t notice two other school students who were already inside the small washroom and claimed to have seen the murder.

After stabbing Dev, the 16-year-old fled to his aunt’s house in Gajrawadi and changed his clothes. When his father, a casual labourer, came to know of the crime, he immediately boarded a bus with his son and reached Valsad. However, by the time they reached, the two boy who were witness to the crime, had revealed his identity to the police. As soon as the duo reached Valsad, they were nabbed with the help of local police there.

‘He was a quite student, never aggressive’

Vadodara: The gruesome crime committed by the teenage student has left the school authorities perplexed. Sources in the 73-year-old Shri Bharti School said that the boy claims he was pulled for not doing homework, he was seldom reprimanded for any behavioural issues. “He has been studying here for the past several years. We never saw him exhibiting aggressive behaviour,” said a source.

“He used to be quiet most of the time even when he was in the class. Outside though, he wanted to have a macho image,” the sources said.

He was an average student but he attended classes regularly and seldom bunked.

Moreover, the administration makes frequent announcements reminding students that they are under the close watch of CCTVs. Even the boy was aware about the CCTV installed near the bathroom, so its surprising why he killed the 14-year-old there.