Canning: Members of the managing committee of a high school and its teacher-in-charge were severely beaten up after the body of a student was found hanging in the premises at Jharkhali in the Sundarbans area of South 24 Parganas district on Tuesday.
District superintendent of police Pravin Tripathy said the body of standard eight student Satyajit Mondol was found hanging from a grill on the roof top of Herobhanga Vidyasagar Vidyamandir in the morning.
The 14 year-old, who hails from Thumkati in Canning, about 45 km away, had led protests a few days ago against substandard food given as mid-day meal by the school earning the ire of the school authorities.
The school managing committee had advised the transfer of the hostel superintendent but the teacher-in-charge had cancelled it.
As the news of the boy`s death spread, villagers attacked the school and severely beat up the teacher-in-charge Chittaranjan Sardar and the managing committee members. The additional superintendent of police, special police force and RAF, besides Tripathy himself rushed to the spot.
The angry villagers refused to allow the police touch the body but agreed to hand it over only after being assured by the police, Tripathy said.
Trouble erupted again as the villagers attacked and damaged five houses belonging to the members of the school managing committee after the police took away the body.
Later, six members of the school managing committee were arrested and the techer-in-charge hospitalised.
RAF and police were deployed in the area as tension ran high in the area, Tripathy said adding the reason for the boy`s death was being investigated.
PTI
