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Class 4 student thrown off balcony by teacher in Karnataka dies: Police

 A class 4 student in Karnataka’s Gadag district died after he was allegedly thrashed and pushed off the first-floor balcony of a government-run school by a teacher, police said on Tuesday.

Published on: Dec 20, 2022, 24:12:27 IST
By , Bengaluru
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 A class 4 student in Karnataka’s Gadag district died after he was allegedly thrashed and pushed off the first-floor balcony of a government-run school by a teacher, police said on Tuesday, adding the accused is absconding.

A class 4 student in Karnataka’s Gadag district died after he was allegedly thrashed and pushed off the first-floor balcony of a government-run school by a teacher. (Getty Images)
A class 4 student in Karnataka’s Gadag district died after he was allegedly thrashed and pushed off the first-floor balcony of a government-run school by a teacher. (Getty Images)

The incident at the school in Hadli village in Naragund taluk took place on Monday. The 10-year-old student, Bharath Barker, was thrashed with a shovel and then pushed off the balcony by Muthappa Yellapa (45), who was a guest teacher in the school, police said.

Yellapa also reportedly thrashed Bharath’s mother, Geeta Barker, who is also a teacher in the same school, after she tried to stop him. She is currently undergoing treatment at KIMS Hospital, police added.

It was not immediately clear why the teacher assaulted and pushed the student off the first floor.

“Muthappa first thrashed Bharath and then threw him off the first-floor, leading to his death. He also thrashed his mother, Geeta, with a shovel,” Gadag superintendent of police (SP) Shivprakash Devaraju said.

“Bharath was killed and Geeta was seriously injured. Another teacher, Shivanand Patil, also sustained minor injuries and has been admitted to a local hospital,” he added.

All the victims and accused are from Hadli village. The incident occurred at 11:30am on Monday, the SP said.

An FIR has been registered under section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code against Muthappa who is now absconding, police said, adding that efforts are on to trace him.

“The accused is absconding and efforts are underway to arrest him at the earliest. We have formed a special team to nab him. We are still trying to investigate what exactly happened,” the SP said.

“It is clear how the incident occurred but we don’t know the motive behind it yet. We will get more information in a day or two,” he added.

Devaraju said all teachers and students will be questioned.

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