BERHAMPUR: A missing Class IV student of a government-run Ashram school in Gajapati district was found dead in Tabarasing nullah on Monday evening.
The deceased minor was identified as nine-year-old Ruturaj Gamango of Kulapata village within Seranga police limits. He was missing from the hostel of Anukumba Ashram school since Sunday.
Sources said after Ruturaj disappeared from the hostel, authorities of the residential school launched a search for him but reportedly did not inform his parents. On Tuesday evening, some locals spotted the boy’s body in the nullah, which is around 1 km from the school.
On being informed, the school authorities and police reached the spot. The body was retrieved and after identification, sent to Paralakhemundi hospital for autopsy.
Villagers blamed the callousness of the school authorities for Ruturaj’s death. They alleged foul play in the incident as the nullah hardly has any water and it is unlikely that the boy drowned in it.
“How did the boy leave the hostel without the knowledge of the hostel authorities? Besides, the authorities did not inform his parents after he went missing. The student’s death is shrouded in mystery. Police should probe the circumstances leading to his death and take action against the school authorities for their negligence,” said the villagers.
Ruturaj hails from a poor family with his father working as a migrant labourer in Chennai. His mother works as a menial labourer in Kulapata village.
An officer in Seranga police station said school headmistress Sasmita Patra has lodged a complaint in connection with the incident. An unnatural death case has been registered and investigation is underway. The exact cause of the boy’s death can be ascertained after the postmortem report arrives.
The incident comes close on the heels of the mysterious death of a Class II girl in the hostel of Bishmayakara Ashram School at Udala in Mayurbhanj district. Seven-year-old Dulari Madhei was found hanging from a bamboo pole with an apron in the room adjacent to the dormitory in the residential school on Sunday afternoon.