Bangalore: A 14-year-old Class VIII student of a private school in Hanumanthanagar was found dead on the school premises on Tuesday night. The deceased, identified as Vijay Kumar, is suspected to have fallen from the four-storey school building, when he allegedly tried to break into the school to reportedly steal the question paper for the exams scheduled for Wednesday.

The incident occurred at Evershine English School at Kalidasa Circle in Hanumanthanagar. Vijay was the eldest son of Ramu, a construction labour contractor. The family resided a few blocks away from the school. The incident came to light after two of Vijay’s classmates informed a police constable that he had fallen off the school building around 10 p.m. on Tuesday night.

When the police rushed to the spot, the school gates were locked and they had to get it opened by the school authorities. An official said that they found a rope tied on the waist of the boy, who was lying dead inside the quadrangle of the school building.

H.S. Revanna, DCP (South) told The Hindu that from the scene of crime it was clear that the deceased was not alone, and there were at least two more when the accident occurred. “Probably, the boys have gone to the terrace, tied a rope around the deceased’s waist and tried to let him down to a lower floor, to break into the building through the window. The boys may have not been able to hold the weight of the boy and the rope might have also snapped,” he said. He further added that the police were questioning the boy’s friends, who first informed the police of the incident.

Another official said preliminary investigations revealed that the boy might have tried to break into the school to steal the question paper for exams scheduled to begin on Wednesday. He claimed that the deceased boy had told one of his classmates that he would procure the question paper on Tuesday night and even offered to give it to him for a consideration.

However, the Vijay’s family denied that he had tried to steal the question paper. Ramu, the boy’s father, said that Vijay had been to tuition in the evening, returned home and then left home informing him that he was going to a friend’s house. He said that his son was studious and alleged negligence on part of the school for his death. The school neither had a security guard nor CCTV cameras on its premises.

Meanwhile, the school declared a holiday on Wednesday in view of the tragedy on the campus and put off the exams scheduled for the day.