OUR CORRESPONDENT, Noakhali

After an eighth grader was found dead at a school dormitory in Lakshmipur’s Ramganj upazila, his family has alleged that senior students beat him to death over accusations of stealing a mobile phone.

Police said they were investigating the incident.

The victim, Mehedi Hasan, 14, was a student of Farid Ahmed Bhuiyan Academy.

According to Mehedi’s father, Zia Uddin of Raghavpur village in Ramganj, a group of senior students tortured his son for hours on Monday night after accusing him of stealing a mobile phone.

“The next day, my son filed a complaint with the school authorities. Then, the senior students tortured my son again in the afternoon and killed him,” he alleged, adding that he would file a case and seek justice.

In a statement issued yesterday, the school authorities acknowledged that Mehedi had been physically and mentally tortured by a group of higher secondary students at the dormitory on Monday night “based on suspicion”, although they did not specify the nature of the suspicion.

According to the statement, Mehedi filed a complaint with the school authorities on Tuesday over the alleged torture, prompting the school to launch an inquiry.

Later that day, around 6:00pm, Mehedi was found hanging in a corridor adjacent to Room No. 614 of the dormitory, the statement said.

The statement did not clarify whether Mehedi was alive when he was found.

SEE PAGE 5 COL 5