Eluru school murder: Two Class X students strangle Class IV student to death; held

Eluru: Police have arrested two Class X students for allegedly murdering a Class-IV student of Tribal Welfare Residential School at Puliramannagudem.

The accused were from the same school. Police said a small dispute between the victim and the accused led to the brutal murder.

On July 11, a Class-IV student was found dead near the hostel premises at Puliramannagudem in Eluru. He belonged to the Konda Reddy tribal community. His parents work as daily wage labourers in Urrinka village, which is 5 km from the school.

Circle-Inspector of Jeelugumilli, B Venkateswara Rao, who investigated the case, said they have recovered a letter at the dead body. In the letter, students were asked to leave for their safety. Since there were some issues between the staff and locals of the village, the accused tried to divert the attention of investigators.

During the interaction with some students, one of the boys said that on July 10 night an unidentified man entered their dormitory through a window which does not have a mesh. He then opened the door to let in another person. The two persons used a torch on their mobile phones and identified the victim, who was asleep, and took him along with them. On July 11, one of the students found the victim lying dead on the ground on the residential campus.

"The investigation has revealed that the two accused misbehaved with the victim a few days ago. When the victim warned them that he would complain against them with teachers and the warden, the two Class-X students decided to eliminate him," said the CI Rao.

On the day of the murder, the two accused took him to an isolated place at the school complex. When the victim tried to raise an alarm, the accused gagged and strangled him to death. Police found bruises around the boy’s neck and a small scratch near his right eye.

The two accused were shifted to a juvenile home following the court’s instructions.