Suicide or accident? Girl found dead after fall from school building in Telangana

HYDERABAD: A class X student fell to her death from the top floor of her school in Nagole on Thursday, a day after summer vacations ended. While school authorities claimed that the girl, Nalla Veevika, may have committed suicide, police have registered a case of negligence against the management on a complaint by Veevika’s father Nalla Narsing Rao.
Naagarjuna High School, where the incident took place, operates out of a commercial complex at Sainagar Colony. The FIR states that the 14-year-old came to school at around 8 am and kept her bag and lunch box in her classroom on the fourth floor. There is, however, no clarity on how she fell. The school’s watchman found her lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
The authorities then rushed her to Kamineni Hospital with multiple fractures, a serious head injury and severe blood loss. She was declared dead on arrival.
"After keeping their bags in class all students come to the ground floor for assembly,” said school chairman Venkateshwar Reddy. “But Veevika stealthily went to the terrace and jumped to her death. She had some medical issues since childhood and was undergoing treatment. There was no negligence on our part and we have a CCTV footage to prove our case. We have submitted the footage to the police.”
Shiva Prasad, Veevika’s paternal uncle, blamed the school. “The management is issuing false statements about her medical condition. She was a fighter and was not someone who would commit suicide,” he said. “We suspect that she fell from the window. It is negligence on part of the school management as the large classroom windows have no grills. If they have CCTV footage, they should release it to us. Initially, we were told that she fell from the first floor. Now, they are claiming that she committed suicide from the fifth floor.”
Medchal district education officer, Vijaya Kumari, temporarily sealed the school and issued a show-cause notice to the management, seeking explanation by Friday. “We don’t know how the girl fell from the school building,” she said. “We are waiting for police investigation report.” She added that if the school management was found guilty, a criminal case would be filed and their permissions revoked.
TOI visited the school immediately after the girl’s death and found that the commercial building has large windows without grills on all its floors. “Any student can easily fall off from the window. Although the school management is claiming that the student committed suicide, how could they keep access to the terrace open for students?” asked Achyutha Rao, honorary president of Balala Hakula Sangam, a child rights organisation.