A team of sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrived at Michalepatti village near Thirukattupalli in Thanjavur district, to interrogate the authorities of the school at which a 17-year-old girl student died by suicide last month.
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The investigation into the cause of death of the girl student was transferred to the CBI, following a Madras High Court (Madurai bench) plea for a CBI probe, by the parents of the deceased girl, who hailed from Vadugampalayam hamlet in Ariyalur district.
Initially on January 16, the Thirukattupalli police booked a case under the Juvenile Justice Act and under the IPC sections - sections 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) and section 82 [1] (indulging in corporal punishment with the aim of disciplining a child) of the Juvenile Justice Act and section 305 (abetment of suicide of child or insane person) and section 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonments). The police arrested the 67-year-old hostel warden of the school.
Subsequently, after the death of the girl student on January 19, the case took a different turn with charges that the girl had been forced to end her life after attempts at forcible conversion by the school.
The team of CBI sleuths, led by the Tamil Nadu 1998 batch IPS officer, Vidya Jayant Kulkarni appointed as the Joint Director, CBI in November last year, arrived at Michalepatti on Monday afternoon and commenced their investigation by interrogating the school and hostel authorities and inspecting the school and hostel premises, police said.