Representational Image.
A Class X student, the prime suspect in the murder of Class IX student Dev Bhagwandas Taqvi, whose body was found in the boy's toilet of Bharti School in Vadodara was held under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act on Saturday.
The 17-year-old accused, a student of the same school located in Baranpora area, was held in Valsad town in South Gujarat late last night, said Vadodara police Commissioner Manoj Sashidhar. The police also recovered a bag containing sharp-edged weapons and a liquid mixture of chilly powder from a terrace adjacent to the school building, alleged to belong to the accused.
However, the police said that they are not directly interrogating the accused as he is a juvenile. The investigating officials have roped in an NGO and is taking due legal course.
Dev Bhagwandas Tadvi, 14, was on Friday accosted by unidentified culprits when he headed to his classroom. Dev was stabbed at least 10 times.
The accused student came under the lens after he was spotted in CCTV footage entering the washroom along with the victim.
The victim, who stayed with his uncle in Vadodara City, had been transferred to the school this year after completing his initial schooling from another school in the city. He had been to school just for a day before he was killed.
The latest incident is a chilling reminder of last year's case in which a Class 2 student was found with his throat slit inside the washroom of a reputed Gurgaon school. The case had sparked off wide-scale outrage over lack of security inside school premises.
The police had initially arrested bus driver for killing the child but the CBI rejected the police's theory and arrested a 16-year-old student of the same school for his involvement in the murder case.
The Juvenile Justice Board had later ruled that the accused would be tried as an adult.
