Caught stealing Rs30 from classmate, 11-year-old hangs himself in Mumbai

The boy tried to coerce a classmate to enter a suicide pact with him. However, he refused, said police

An 11-year-old tribal hostel student in a government-run ashramshala committed suicide by hanging himself from the iron frame of a scrapped tempo near his school on Tuesday.

The boy has a history of criminal activities, said the police. (HT)

Police said the boy, a Class 6 student, was ashamed after he was caught stealing Rs30 from his classmate on Monday. The principal had reprimanded him and ordered him to return the stolen cash. The boy skipped school the next day and hanged himself with a nylon rope near a brick kiln.

On realising that he was missing, the principal, a few teachers and his classmates went looking for him and discovered his body.

The Mokhada police said the boy tried to coerce a classmate to enter into a suicide pact with him. However, he refused, said assistant police inspector Prakash Sonawane.

Police sent the body for a postmortem, which confirmed that he died of strangulation. They have registered a case of accidental death and are investigating.

The body was handed over to the boy’s parents, who are both farm labourers. They performed the last rites on Wednesday morning, said the police.

The boy has a history of criminal activities, said the police. “In 2016, he stole a few chicken from a woman, cooked them and ate them in a nearby field. He had also robbed a few women of their bangles,” said an officer.