COIMBATORE: A 12-year-old school bully, who his teachers claim was irritable and prone to picking on younger children, murdered a Class I student half his age by bludgeoning him to death, here on Wednesday.
According to the police, there seemed to be no real motive to commit the crime. Both the boys would take the same bus to their matriculation school together from their homes, students told police. The school has a strength of over 2,000.
The two had been playing together during a Physical Education class when the older boy tried to pick on the other. “The six-year-old resisted, hit him in his chest and ran behind the boys’ toilet,” said M N Manjunatha, Tirupur City Police Commissioner.
The bully, whose parents are from Rajasthan, allegedly followed the boy, bludgeoned him with a stone before helping him back to his feet and finally pushing him to the ground. In the fall, the younger boy hit another stone and sustaining head injuries.
The bully passed out in the same spot, possibly after realising the gravity of the situation.
Tirupur police told Express that the older boy’s father was working in a clothing store in Coimbatore, while the father of the victim was a bank manager in Tirupur. The victim and his family had moved to Tirupur only a year ago, police sources said. The boy has three siblings.
The incident came to light after another boy spotted the body and the collapsed bully and informed the PE teacher. The school authorities rushed to the spot and called the police. The six-year-old was rushed to the Tirupur Government Hospital but was declared “brought dead”.
The older boy was produced before a judge and sent to the Observation Home for Juvenile Offenders in Coimbatore.