A 17-year-old boy suffocated himself to death using a plastic cover near Kovilpalayam on Thursday night reportedly after his parents compelled him to attend school.
Police said the boy R Ramki, a student of a nearby government school, was disinterested in studies and refused to attend school even after repeatedly been pushed by his father Ravi Chandran. He was promoted to Standard 12 and the school was scheduled to reopen on Friday. “However, he was vehemently refusing to go to school and wanted to start working. Both his parents, who are wage labourers, wanted him to complete at least Standard 12,” police said. On Thursday night, Ramki left home saying that he would sleep at his grandmother’s house on the next street and would to go school from there.The grandmother had gone out of town and Ramki was staying alone at the house.
The boy’s parents grew suspicious as Ramki did not return home from school till Friday evening and began searching for him. They found Ramki’s uniforms unused at home.
When they checked at the grandmother’s house, they found the front door locked. Ravi Chandran broke open the door and entered the house. He was shocked to see Ramki lying dead with his face covered with a plastic bag and insulation tapes tied around his neck. Police suspected that the boy had consumed poison and later suffocated himself to death as he was uncertain about the fatality of the poison.