Four days after a Delhi school boy Shivam Soni died after falling from the balcony of a Mussoorie hotel, chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday said that she will soon write to the Uttarakand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” to request a crime branch inquiry into the case.
The step was taken after the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) asked the ITL School, Dwarka, to submit a report in a week on the medical arrangements made for the school trip to Mussoorie. However, the details of the medical arrangements were not made public.
“So far it seems that the school authorities were well prepared for the tour to Mussoorie,” said a senior Delhi government official under a condition of anonymity.
The authority added, “There is a possibility of foul play which might have nothing to do with the school and for proper investigation there is a need of a more specialised police institution.” The Delhi government authorities said that the state crime branch will be able to solve the case.
Ten-year-old student Shivam Soni died during the trip purportedly after falling off the balcony of Dunsvirk Court Hotel, where 180 students and teachers were putting up. The post-mortem report found Shivam’s neck bone to be broken and injuries on other body parts. Shivam’s body was found outside the hotel around 5.30 am on Sunday by a driver of the hotel.
A resident of Najafgarh, Shivam had left with the school group on May 7 and was supposed to return on Tuesday. The trip was cut short and the students returned on Monday evening.
School principal Dr Anjali Sethi said the school is ready to cooperate with the police in the probe. “We too want to know what happened. I spoke to the teachers and they stand by what they have said earlier, that they had checked Shivam’s room sometime between 11.30 pm on Saturday and midnight and had found all the four boys asleep. “Twenty teachers and three caretakers had accompanied the students and four boys were put up in one room. The Mussoorie police is investigating the incident.