Deaths in Virar residential school: Parents of deceased kids seek CBI probe

REJECTING a report submitted by developmental paediatrician Samir Dalwai, who was appointed by the state’s Child Rights Commission to inquire into the deaths of three students of a residential school in Virar last year, parents of the three children filed a counter-report last week. Calling Dalwai’s report ‘hazy and unclear’, parents of the three deceased students of Vagad Gurukul have demanded a CBI inquiry in the case.

On August 27, 2014, the bodies of three 14-year-old students studying in Class IX at Vagad Gurukul School in Virar were found floating in Sukh river, about 200 metres away from the school. The three—Prahul Patel, Kushal Dagha and Meet Chhadwa—could have drowned while trying to flee the school hostel, investigators suspected.

Dalwai’s report, submitted to the Child Rights Commission on November 17, states that the three students, along with six others, fled the school out of fear of being flogged by the Sanskrit teacher the following day.

The parents, however, claimed that Dalwai’s report left out several factors pointed out in the post-mortem reports. The parents’ submission to the Child Rights Commission is that Dalwai had not probed injuries to external genitilia, as mentioned in the post mortem reports. The parents also stated that Dalwai had not spoken to Hiren Chaudhary, one of the six witnesses. Dalwai only interviewed two of the six witnesses, the parents have said.

arita.sarkar@expressindia.com