Visakhapatnam: A six-year-old boy died under tragic and controversial circumstances after allegedly being beaten by his teacher at a private school in Visakhapatnam. The heart-wrenching incident, which was captured on the classroom’s CCTV camera, has sparked widespread outrage and protests from the victim’s family and local residents.
The deceased, identified as Pranay Teja, was a Lower Kindergarten (LKG) student at Little Garden School in the city’s One Town area.
According to police and family members, the incident occurred during morning classes. The teacher allegedly reprimanded and physically assaulted the young boy with a stick for failing to complete his homework. In the CCTV footage, the teacher is reportedly seen grabbing the child by his shirt and striking him. A terrified and sobbing Pranay suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed onto the teacher.
School staff rushed him to King George Hospital (KGH). However, doctors stated that the boy had passed away approximately half an hour before arriving at the facility and declared him dead on arrival.
The boy’s father stated that Pranay was perfectly healthy and had enthusiastically left for school that morning. “He woke up at 8 AM and insisted on going to school because his exams were approaching. We received a call around noon, not from the school management, but from locals near our relative’s house, informing us that something had happened to our son,” the devastated father alleged.
The grieving family further accused the school authorities of attempting to cover up the incident. They claimed that school staff provided false information on the hospital admission note, stating that the child collapsed while playing on the school ground—despite the school not possessing a playground.
“The school harasses us with multiple calls if there is a slight delay in paying fees, but they didn’t have the basic courtesy to inform us when our child collapsed,” a protesting family member said.
Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Dilip Chakravarthy arrived at KGH to monitor the situation. Meanwhile, the One Town police have registered a case against the teacher and the school management, and have seized the classroom’s CCTV footage.
Authorities stated that the exact medical cause of the boy’s death—whether it was a stress-induced cardiac event or internal trauma—will be confirmed once the post-mortem report is released. Parents and locals have staged a dharna outside the school, demanding immediate and strict legal action against the accused.