The police on Tuesday arrested the guest teacher who killed a Class 4 student by thrashing and throwing him off the first-floor balcony of a government-run school at Hadli village in Naragund taluk of Gadag district, police said.
The special police team formed under deputy superintendent of police, YS Eganna, arrested Muthappa Hadagali (32) on Tuesday.
The incident at the school in Hadli village in Naragund taluk took place on Monday. The 10-year-old student, Bharath Barker, was thrashed with a shovel and then pushed off the balcony by Muthappa, who was a guest teacher in the school, police said.
Hadagali also hit Bharath’s mother, Geeta Barker, who is also a teacher in the school, after she tried to stop him. She is currently undergoing treatment at KIMS Hospital, police added.
Geeta is battling for her life at KIMS Hospital in Hubballi.
After the incident, the students were in a state of shock and were hesitant to attend the classes, the authorities said. The school has 427 students from Class 1-7. Two days back, the school had organised an educational tour to Sri Shaila and the students were very happy, the school authorities said.
On Tuesday, Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh visited the KIMS hospital and consoled the family members. “It is unfortunate that such an incident occurred at the school. The teachers and students will be counselled to instill courage. The police have been instructed to take severe action,” the minister told reporters.
Recalling the incident, school head teacher BS Yavagal said, “I heard the noise and went there. Muthappa was mercilessly attacking Geetha. When I tried to intervene, he tried to assault me, but I had a narrow escape.”
Muthappa and Geeta were appointed as guest teachers in July last year along with four other teachers by the school management. “We never expected to witness such an incident,” Yavagal said.
“I heard the news and immediately rushed to the school and shifted Geetha to Naragund hospital. The doctors then referred her to the Hubballi hospital,” Geeta’s neighbour Yallappa Gowda said, adding that there was no enmity between the two teachers.
According to Naragund Deputy SP YS Eganna Gowdar, the accused said he was upset with Geeta’s intimacy with another teacher Sangana Gowda on the tour. “He was possessive about Geeta and the two were in a relationship. Later, Geeta distanced herself and became close with Gowda which made him furious. So, he assaulted Geeta’s son Bharat and also tried to attack Sangana Gowda,” he added.
