Keonjhar: A day after a 15 year-old student was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the hostel of a private institution in Odisha's Keonjhar district, police have detained three of his hostelmates, all juveniles, on the alleged charge of murder over classroom rivalry.

The victim, Jaladhar Mahanta, son of Jagabandhu Mahanta of Tangarpada village under Patna police limits in Champua block, was found dead in his hostel room late two days back. While initially it was suspected that Jaladhar could have had a heat stroke or heart attack leading to sudden death, subsequent probe by Town police revealed that he died due to asphyxiation after being strangulated by three of his fellow roommates.

As per preliminary investigation, Jaladhar had come to the hostel 15 days back and was not getting along well with some of his classmates. The prime accused, a student from Naranpur village, being a class monitor used to be triggered when Jaladhar did not comply with his instructions. He was also enraged when some comments were reportedly passed by Jaladhar when they alighted from the college bus. 

Harbouring a grudge against Jaladhar and attempting to seek revenge, the accused along with two other students from Jashipur and Pandapada, suffocated Jaladhar with a blanket and strangled him to death following an argument which turned violent that day, police said.

 "The accused have confessed to the crime. They have been produced in the Juvenile Court and taken to Rourkela Observation Home after their bail pleas were rejected ," said IIC of Town police station, Srikant Sahu.

A student of Radhamadhav High School at Neundi village, Jaladhar had recently passed his matric exams and was staying at the hostel of Gayatri Residential College, a private institution at Dangarpada in Keonjhar town to pursue a summer course.

On Monday night, he had dinner with his friends as usual around 10 pm and went to sleep. Hostel mates found him sleeping in a bed in the corridor and went to wake him up at around 1 am. However, when Jaladhar reportedly did not respond, students called the college authorities and informed them about the situation following which he was rushed to the district headquarters hospital. But doctors declared him dead on arrival. 

The deceased student’s father later had later filed a complaint with Keonjhar Town police, alleging his son had been murdered in the hostel. Acting on it, cops had started probing the incident.

College authorities, meanwhile, informed that ₹7 lakh compensation has been offered to the bereaved family. 

 

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