4 students’ deaths at Vrindavan gurukul: Manager held, magistrate probe ordered

The probe will examine the institute's conduct and the cause of deaths, including potential toxic gas presence.

A magistrate enquiry has been ordered and an FIR lodged against the man running a Sanskrit gurukul in Vrindavan after four students died inside a 12-foot-deep underground water tank on Tuesday night, allegedly after entering it to clean the tank following a foul smell from the stored water.

Mathura SSP Shlok Kumar said an FIR was lodged at Vrindavan police station against Ashish Kumar Sharma, who was running the Panini Sanskrit Gurukulam. (Naeem Ansari/ANI)

Mathura district magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh said on Wednesday that the enquiry would be conducted by the city magistrate. “Various other aspects related to conduct of the institute, including its registration, affiliation etc, are to be probed by the committee,” he said.

Singh said the tank was 12 feet deep and added that the presence of poisonous gas may have caused the deaths.

Mathura SSP Shlok Kumar said an FIR was lodged at Vrindavan police station against Ashish Kumar Sharma, who was running the Panini Sanskrit Gurukulam. Sharma, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, was arrested after a case was registered under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

Around 80 students were staying at the gurukulam, where they studied Sanskrit and rituals. Police said students had been asked to clean the underground water tank. Initially, water was being removed with a bucket, but later a student was asked to enter the tank. When he did not respond, others went inside one after another. Four died while one was rescued.

Family members of the deceased reached Vrindavan on Wednesday and were handed over the bodies after completion of the required legal formalities.

The exact cause of the deaths was being investigated, police said.