Students murder two mates to get holiday

In a shocking incident, two brothers, aged eight and five, were murdered by their schoolmates at an Ashram Shala hoping the school authorities will declare a holiday. The incident occurred on Tuesday at Partur town, some 60 km from here.

Jalna district police said the bodies of eight-year-old Ashok and five-year-old Mangal Kale were recovered from a stream near the Ashram Shala and initially recorded as accidental deaths. It was after the bodies were sent to the local rural hospital that doctors revealed that the deaths had occurred due to strangulation.

The police on Thursday took into custody three students, all aged 14 and studying in Class VIII. They were shifted to a remand home here after admitting to having murdered the brothers in the hope of getting a holiday.

The brothers, who hailed from Selu village in Parbhani district, had joined the school recently at the beginning of the academic year, said Jalna district police.