Ranchi: Teachers may face polygraph test to probe death of student, sodomy suspected

The police is likely to put four teachers from Sapphire international school in Ranchi to a polygraph test with regard to the investigation of the murder and suspected sodomy of a Class VII student, reports a leading English daily. The police had detained nine teachers and suspects them to have murdered Vinay Mahato, the 12-year-old student.

Vinay, son of Man Bahal Mahato, a businessman living in Jagannathpur area here, was found lying unconscious with severe head injuries in the lobby of teachers' residential flats around 1.00 a.m. His father was informed about the incident around 3.30 am after which he lodged a complaint in the Tupudana police station.

According to the doctor who conducted the post-mortem, the boy was brutally beaten up because of which his liver suffered injuries. He also had severe injuries on his head and stomach. Police are looking into the possibility of the boy having been subjected to sexual assault, as some incriminating materials were recovered from the flat in which the detained teachers were staying.

According to the report, the police has found evidence against the teachers but the nine suspects have been evasive. Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi has said that police has sought the court's permission to conduct the lie detector's test.

A former teacher, appearing on a local news channel with his face covered, also claimed that the students in the school were being sexually harassed by some of the teachers. "The atmosphere forced many teachers to leave the school," he said. 

The school management and the principal have rejected all such charges. 

The parents of the victim demanded a day-long bandh in Ranchi on Wednesday and have the support of several political parties and civil society organisations

With agency inputs.