Less than 24 hours after a Class 9 student of Benapanjari village under Jatani police limits of Khordha district was murdered, the police on Thursday solved the case and detained a Plus 2 student.
The minor boy, Subham Swarup Paltasingh, was murdered by the Plus 2 student over tuition fee, said Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh while addressing a press conference.
The deceased's father, Manoj Kumar Paltasingh is a teacher by profession.
“The minor boy was in his room while his parents were taking tuition classes in other rooms in their house. Hearing a scream from his room, they rushed to his room only to find their son in a pool of blood. They then rushed him to the hospital,” Singh said.
“We immediately launched an investigation and started gathering clues in the incident. We seized a school bag with a pair of school uniforms and other materials in it. They provided us preliminary proof to launch our investigation. Our investigation revealed the involvement of a Plus II student. During our interaction with the villagers, they said they have seen him before in the locality. The investigating officer summoned the Plus II student and when interrogated, he confessed to having murdered the Class 9 student,” he said.
Asked about the motive behind the crime, the DCP said he had been a student of the deceased’s parents about two years ago and had to pay some money towards the tuition fee to them.
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"They were repeatedly asking him for the money in public. He would feel humiliated. To vent his anger, he went to their house and attacked their son with a knife, leading to his death. We have so far seized the weapon of offense, his bag and other things. The scientific team is collecting important evidence from the crime spot. After the completion of the investigation, we will produce the accused before the juvenile justice board,” he added.
When asked about the amount of outstanding tuition money, the DCP said, “Though we are yet to ascertain it, our investigation reveals it was something between Rs 3000 and Rs 5000.
Meanwhile, Manoj Kumar Paltasingh, father of the deceased, alleged the involvement of more than one person in the murder of his son and demanded a CBI inquiry.
“We don’t have any enemies. Nor did my son have any enmity. My son had been a brilliant student. As per the DCP, the accused revealed that he had a grudge against me over outstanding tuition fees, but such a claim is baseless. I asked him to pay tuition fees only when he was my student. Thereafter he passed the exam and never came to me for tuition. And as I am like his uncle, I had never asked him to pay the outstanding fees. I think he has concocted a plot to save himself,” said Manoj.
“It seems to me that he killed my son for money. Some others must be involved in it. Only a CBI inquiry will bring the truth out,” he added.