A day after two boys of tenth standard ‘ended their lives’ by self-immolation in Jagityal town, 40 km. from here, startling details about the reasons behind the suicide pact emerged on Monday.
The two teenagers studying in the same school were regularly communicating with two girls living in a locality nearer to them. “The two boys used to tell their friends that they were in love with those two girls. The latter were students of another school and in lower classes than the boys,” Jagityal Inspector Prakash said on Monday.
Video footage
Making it clear that there was no foul play in their death, the investigators said the evidence gathered by the police so far suggested that both decided to end their lives. The video footage recorded by surveillance cameras showed the two boys walking together with one carrying a can of petrol.
“It is confirmed that they purchased the petrol from a bunk, went to Mission Compound (a place belonging to local church) on town outskirts,” Jagityal DSP Satyanarayana said. Bottles found at the spot led the police to believe that the two teenagers consumed beer before dousing themselves in petrol and setting themselves afire around 7 p.m., the police observed.
While one got torched to death at the spot, the other succumbed to burns after being shifted to Karimnagar for better medical attention. “What drove them to resort to such extreme step is yet to be ascertained. But it was confirmed that the two boys were in regular touch with two younger school girls,” the DSP said.
‘Love failure’
Police are analysing Call Data Record and WhatsApp messages of the mobile phones the two boys had used to speak with the two girls. They are verifying reports that the two boys got depressed over “love failure” and committed suicide.
Investigators learnt that parents of the two girls came to know about the boys communicating with their daughters and counselled them not to do so.
One of the boys was earlier found by the Jagityal police patrolling party while he was sniffing turpentine oil used in painting to get intoxicated.
Filmy twist
“This boy introduced the sniffing of turpentine oil sprinkled on cloth to other younger boys - some of them were in fifth standard - to get a high,” the police officer who counselled him told The Hindu.
The boy used to frequently talk about a recent Telugu film in which the hero ends life after the heroine ditches him.
He saved some clips of the movie on his mobile phone and used to watch it again and again, his friends told the police.
A case of unnatural death under section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code was registered after a formal complaint from the father of one of the boys was received.
(There is always someone to listen at: +914066202000 in case of any emotional breadkdown at this Hyderabad-based suicide intervention centre, Roshni)