CHITRADURGA: A 12-year-old boy, who was rehearsing a scene of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh being sent to the gallows for a play to be performed on Kannada Rajyotsava Day at his school, died as the knot tied around his neck tightened.
The deceased was identified as Sanjay Gowda (12), a Class 7 student of SLV School. He was practising his role in the play over the last few days. But on Saturday evening when his parents were away, he started rehearsing the scene of the hanging, for which he used a rope fastened to the ceiling fan.
He also wore a black hood and put the other end of the rope (noose) around his neck. Unfortunately, the noose tightened, resulting in Sanjay’s death, the police said. Sanjay’s parents, who arrived home late, rushed him to a nearby hospital, but he was declared dead.
School Principal Kotturesh KT said, “Sanjay Gowda was a bright student, who stood first in classroom and extra-curricular activities. His death has saddened the entire school. As we were presenting programmes on Rajyotsava Day, we requested parents to inform their respective class teachers of their children’s interest in participating in the cultural programmes. It was related to Kannada and culture, and the Bhagat Singh theme was not part of it.”
He clarified that school authorities had not assigned any role for Sanjay, and the student might have practised Bhagat Singh’s role on his own.
‘My son was good in academics’
DDPI K Ravishankar Reddy said he collected information from school authorities and they denied that Bhagat Singh’s role was suggested to the boy. He had earlier donned the roles of Sangolli Rayanna and others in the school.
Sanjay’s father Nagaraj said, “My son was active in studies as well as extra-curricular activities. He was told by school authorities to practice the role of Bhagat Singh and Sanjay himself had arranged for the dress and other necessaries needed.
My wife and I run a tea stall near the DC’s office and he would come there every day. But on Saturday, he didn’t. We went home by 8 pm and found him hanging from the ceiling fan and he was standing on the cot. We rushed him to the district hospital, where he was treated for some time and later declared dead.” The Chitradurga Extension police have filed a case.