Girl found dead in Delhi school premises

India's News.Net
Wednesday 27th August, 2008 (IANS)

A 16-year-old girl was found dead in mysterious circumstances in the hostel of her Delhi Public School (DPS) Tuesday with school authorities saying she 'apparently' jumped to death from the fifth floor.

Pushpanjali Raj, a Class 11 student in the science stream of the DPS at R.K. Puram, was taken to the Holy Angel hospital in Vasant Vihar at 3 p.m., where she was declared brought dead, hospital officials said.

The police said they were informed of the death at 4.39 p.m. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination and the police were investigating the matter.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Shalini Singh refused to comment on the investigations.

'According to the hostel warden, Pushpanjali Raj locked the common bathroom from inside, cut the mesh wire of the bathroom window and apparently jumped off from the window,' said DPS (R.K. Puram) principal Shyama Chona.

Raj, who was from Jharkhand, was staying in room number 504 on the fifth floor of the girls hostel in school premises.

'The school staff brought her to the Holy Angels, the nearest medical centre. Necessary steps were taken to ensure prompt response,' Chona said.

'She was brought to hospital between 4.00- 4.15 p.m. However, she succumbed to her injuries. She had suffered sever head injuries,' Chona said.

'We at school are grieved on her death. She was a good student and a happy child. Her parents, police and the local guardian were immediately informed about the incident,' Chona added.

Asked if she had any problem with other students, Chona replied in negative.

Holy Angels Hospital managing director D.N. Anand said: 'The girl was brought to the hospital at around 3 p.m. and she was declared brought dead.'

The girl's local guardian Durgesh Pandey, a friend of her father, cried foul and stated that a proper and thorough investigation should be done.

'The girl had joined the school only a couple of months ago. She was not someone who would commit suicide,' said Pandey, a scientist by profession.

'She was of a short height, so it is hard to imagine that she cut the wires of the bathroom window and jumped from there. It needs to be investigated whether she committed suicide or she was killed. We have not seen the bathroom. But school authorities are for sure in doubtful position,' he added.

Her father Shiv Narayan Ram is the managing director of a cooperative society in Jharkhand and the family is from Hazaribagh, he added.

The warden of the girls hostel, Rajbala, said she had seen Pushpanjali around 2.30 p.m. when she marked the attendance.

'She had lunch and after that she went to change her uniform,' said Rajbala. 'She didn't seem to be tense.'

Shilpi, a software engineer who is a friend of Pushpanjali's brother Purushottam Raj, said: 'Purushottam had returned to Hyderabad only two days ago after meeting her. She had told him of some problems relating to competition in studies at school because of which she was tense.'

'He had asked me to take care of her. He had asked me to take her out in the capital to divert her mind. He is coming to Delhi tonight and her parents are coming tomorrow,' Shilpi added.

Email this story to a friend

Have your say on this story

Your name/nickname	(optional)
Message
Image verification	(enter the verification code from the image above)