Class 12 Student shot dead his school’s principal
YAMUNANAGAR: A class 12 student on Saturday allegedly killed his school principal by firing four shots with a .32 bore gun in Haryana’s Yamunanagar. “The accused student fired four shots at Swami Vivekanand School principal Ritu Chhabra, who was in her office, with a .32 bore gun and critically injured her,” the police said.
Police said the 18-year-old boy showed up at Swami Vivekananda Public School during a parent-teacher meeting around 10.30am on Saturday, forced his way into principal Ritu Chhabra’s office and asked her to accept his project report.
He allegedly opened fire when the principal, who used to teach economics, refused. The 46-year-old Chhabra was hit by three bullet injuries — one on the face and two pierced her chest. She died at a private hospital around 2pm.
During preliminary investigation, the accused student told the police that he was upset with the school principal for allegedly reprimanding him a couple of times.
“He had a grudge against the school principal for reprimanding him few times in front of his class mates on the complaint of teachers,” the SP said adding that he was not attending school for the past few days.
The four bullets hit her in the chest, stomach and shoulder, Yamunanagar Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kalia told PTI. The SP said, “After shooting the school principal, the 18-year-old commerce student tried to flee. However, a couple of parents, who were present for the parents-teachers meet in the school premises, caught hold him of with the help of locals.”
The teenager went to the school with his face covered and tried to escape after shooting Chhabra, but guards and parents who had come for the meeting overpowered him, police said. The student was arrested and charged with murder.
“The boy was not good at studies and alleged that the principal used to punish him in front of fellow students over his poor performance and low attendance,” Yamunanagar superintendent of police Rajesh Kalia said.
“He had been warned thrice that he won’t be able to write his pre-board examination because of low attendance. He hadn’t attended school for the past four days,” the officer said. The pre-board examination begins on Monday.According to police, when the boy was asked why he shot the principal, he said “she tortured me”.
Police said the boy broke open an almirah in his home and took the registered revolver of his father, a businessman, who was also arrested and charged under the arms act. The father told police that he didn’t know anything about his son’s performance in school.
Principal Chhabra is survived by her husband, a businessman, and two sons — one of whom is employed with a private firm and the other an engineering student.
This is the latest in a string of violence in schools across India. Last September, an eight-year-old student of a school in Gurgaon was murdered on the campus. Earlier this week, a six-year-old boy was stabbed inside a Lucknow school.
He said the boy has been a student of the school since Class 1 while Chhabra was teaching there for the past 15 years. “She had a very good record and we never heard any complaint about her from students,” he added.
The school has been sealed and a team from the state’s forensic science laboratory has taken blood samples from the crime scene for tests.(With Agency Inputs ).
