Odisha: Boy ‘killed’ by classmates after a cricket match fight

JAGATSINGHPUR:  A 14-year-old boy’s family has alleged that he was killed by his classmates after a fight during a cricket match at Sudakanti village within Naugaon police limits here on Sunday. 
The deceased was identified as Sritam Nayak of Ghadansa village and a Class IX student of Kamal Lochan High School. Sources said Sritam along with three of his classmates had gone to attend tuition class of headmaster Bijay Sahoo in the morning. Though Dussehra holidays have commenced, Bijay was conducting tuition classes on the school campus everyday. 

After the headmaster completed the class early, the students decided to play a game of cricket on the school playground. When the match was underway, a quarrel reportedly broke out among the students.
The victim’s grandfather Siba Charan Nayak said Sritam had gone to attend the tuition class at 7 am. “After a few hours, a villager informed me that my grandson was found in the local pond and has been admitted to Naugaon community health centre (CHC). We rushed to the CHC and found that Sritam was dead,” he said.

Siba alleged that Sritam’s classmates assaulted him after a quarrel during the cricket match. “My grandson became unconscious after the assault and breathed his last. On finding that Sritam had died, his classmates threw his body in the nearby pond to make it look like a case of drowning,” he claimed.
On the day, Siba lodged a complaint with Naugaon police against the school headmaster and three classmates of Sritam. Headmaster Bijay could not be contacted as his cellphone was switched off. 

Naugaon IIC Anirudha Nayak said police have registered a murder case basing on the complaint of Sritam’s family. “A scientific team along with a sniffer dog went to the spot for investigation. The boy’s body was sent to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem. Police are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of the victim’s death,” the IIC added.