SAMBALPUR: People of Garposh area under Bamra Block in Sambalpur district today observed a bandh over the death of a plus two student, who allegedly died due to ragging at a hostel in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh.
The 16-year-old boy, Shreyas Kesharwani, died on Saturday.
Shops at Garposh remained closed while the agitators blocked the Bamra-Garposh road keeping the body of Sreyas on the road.
Kuchinda MLA, Rabi Naik and former MLA, Rajendra Chhatria were also present during the agitation. The agitators demanded action against the culprits and the authorities of the educational institution.
They also staged a rail roko at the Garposh Railway Station and stopped the movement of the Rourkela-Sambalpur DMU and two goods trains for about one hour.
However, they called off the rail roko after the officials from the district administration and police discussed the issue with them and gave assurance that the matter would be properly investigated.
According to family sources of the deceased boy, Shreyas had taken admission in the educational institution in Visakhapatnam last year. He was staying in a hostel of the institution. On December 26, some students of the hostel thrashed Shreyas severely, they alleged.
He sustained injuries and informed the vice-principal of the institute about the incident. However, the vice- principal did not pay any heed. The authorities also allegedly did not make any arrangement for treatment of Shreyas.
Finding no other way, Shreyas had called up his father, Sailesh Kesharwani, two days after the incident and said that he had accidentally slipped in the bathroom.
Subsequently, Sailesh went to Visakhapatnam and brought Shreyas home on December 30. But Shreyas did not reveal the fact before his father even after reaching home.
Later, he started complaining of severe chest, leg and hand pain and subsequently narrated the whole incident to his family. The family members rushed him to the IGH, Rourkela.
Shreyas was shifted to Bhubaneswar on January 5 after his condition deteriorated. But he succumbed while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
Sambalpur Superintendent of Police, Sanjeev Arora said the cops have received a complaint.
"We will transfer it to the concerned police station in Andhra Pradesh," the SP said.