A class 4 student of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan senior secondary school in K.K. Nagar in the city, drowned during a swimming session at the school premises on Thursday. Five people have been arrested for the incident.

The victim, Ranjan, 9, was the son of film director N.R.N. Manohar, who has made movies like Maasilamani and Vellore Mavattom.

Trainers noticed Ranjan in an unconscious state in water after the swimming session was over during swimming period. They rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead, police said.

Initial enquiries revealed swimming coach Rajasekharan and his assistant Arun Kumar had left the poolside at the CBSE school premises, on Alagirisamy Salai, after asking all the students to come out of the water. The boy either drifted to the deep end of the pool or fell into the pool from where he could not swim out.

Police on Thursday evening said they had arrested Rajesekharan, Arun Kumar, swimming pool contractor Ranga Reddy, pool maintenance staff Ravi and school physical trainer Ravichandran.

“We are probing the role of senior executives, including founder, Mrs Y.G. Parthasarathy, in the incident,” said a senior city police official on Thursday night.

A school representative told DC that the boy started coughing during the swimming session and was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead.The school did not declare a holiday.

Healthy Ranjan loved to swim

When Ranjan’s body, wrapped in white cloth arrived in an ambulance after the post mortem on Thursday evening, heart-wrenching wails descended on the neighbourhood in Alwarthirunagar. The grief was palpable, but the anger much more obvious.

“So many strangers paid their last respects to the child, but nobody from the school has turned up—leave alone the principal and correspondent who are accountable for his death; even his class teacher has not come to see him,” said Ranjan’s uncle, Mr V. Arul.

After the phone call that Ranjan’s father Manoharan received at 9.20 am informing that his son was in Vijaya hospital, the school has not contacted the family; not even to explain what had happened.

“The minute we drop our children at school, we expect them to be taken care of. The school has termed Ranjan’s death an ‘accident’ and an ‘unfortunate death’. We did not send the child to swim in the beach or in a well, for it to be termed an ‘accident’.

How did the lifeguard and the swimming coach miss the fact that the child was struggling under the water?” asks Sadakarupen, Ranjan’s grandfather.

According to his relatives, Ranjan awoke earlier than usual on Thursday morning and was raring to go for his swimming class.

“He was ready at 7. 30 am. He loved to swim, he had been swimming regularly for two years” said Dr K. Jayakumar, the boy’s uncle.

“He was very active, and did not have a single health problem. He was an all-rounder and scored good marks. He was very close to his sister, a class 7 student in the same school,” he added.

Police arrests 5, launches probe

The death by drowning of Ranjan, a class 4 student of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan school in K.K. Nagar during a swimming session on Thursday, has led to the arrest of five persons involved with the swimming classes. They were held for negligence of duty.

The police said they had arrested Rajesekharan, Arun Kumar, swimming pool contractor Ranga Reddy, pool maintenance staff Ravi and school physical trainer Ravichandran.

“We are probing the role of senior executives, including founder Mrs Y.G. Parthasarathy, in the incident,” said a senior city police officer on Thursday night.

Initial inquiries by the police team revealed that swimming coach Rajasekharan, and his assistant Arun Kumar had left the poolside after asking all the students to come out of the water.

The boy either drifted to the deeper side of the pool or fell into the pool from where he could not swim out.

“However, they noticed that one boy was missing when they took the head count later.

When they returned to the pool, they found the boy floating on the water. It is possible that he was dead by then,” surmise the police.

Parents of the school students said the management had made swimming lessons compulsory in the curriculum.Parents thronged the school, but there was nobody from the management to provide them details.

Many parents were found waiting patiently for their children to come out.Despite the death inside the campus, the management didn’t declared a holiday for the school on Thursday.

The police has been taking strong action in cases related to educational institutions by arresting the heads of the organisations in the last one month. Dr N. Vijayan, founder of Zion matriculation school, was arrested after a student fell through the hole of the school bus and died.

In the case of building collapse at Jeppiaar institute of technology, where 10 workers were killed, the police had arrested educationist Jeppiaar.