4 minor students held on charge of attempt to murder boy

Four minor students of a government-run ST and SC residential school in Koraput district have been held by police on charge of attempt to murder a Class 1 boy of the same school, police said today.
The incident took place on January 10 at Mahadeiput residential school, around 8 kilometre from here, and parents of the victim had lodged a complaint the next day, they said.
One of the four accused students had an altercation with the boy around 20 days ago. He and his three friends took him with them on the day of the incident and thrashed him badly, Arjun Banra, investigating officer of the case, said.

When the boy became unconscious, they abandoned him in a drain and returned to school, Banra said.
As the student did not return to the hostel that night, the school authorities informed his parents who reached there on January 11 and spotted their child lying unconscious in the drain, police said.
Both the hands of the student were fractured and he had received severe injuries on his face. After his condition improved, he narrated the whole incident and identified the accused students, the official said.

The boy is undergoing treatment at the SLNM Medical College and Hospital here and his condition is stated to be stable, the police said.

While the two accused are Class 4 students, the other two students study in Class 5.
"The accused, who were caught yesterday, confessed to the crime during questioning," Additional Superintendent of Police (Koraput) V R Rao said.
The four accused were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, which granted them bail, the police said.
They said initially a case was registered under Section 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
However, it was converted into Section 307 (attempt to murder) after the four accused confessed to the crime, the police said.

Sub-Collector of Koraput Krutibas Rout said a departmental inquiry will be conducted and necessary action will be taken if any dereliction of duty is found on the part of the school authorities.
The residential school is run by the state's ST and SC Development Department.