Girl pushed to death from fourth floor

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 2. In a bizarre incident, a 14-year-old student of St.Thomas School was pushed to death from the fourth floor of a building allegedly by her tutor at West Patel Nagar in West Delhi today. Her tutor too suffered injuries when he panicked and jumped after being spotted climbing down the drain pipe.

Sonam Sareen, a Class X student and resident of G-32 in West Patel Nagar, sustained severe head injuries and died instantly. Her tutor, Ravi Ghai, who sustained minor injuries has been admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Sonam's father, Jagjeet Singh works with United Urab Emirates and is away in Dubai.

According to Sonam's mother, Ms. Paramjeet Kaur, Sonam left for her coaching class after having breakfast around 10-30 a.m. Ms. Kaur said her daughter had been taking tuition from Ravi for the past one year and the latter used to come to her residence to teach. ``Yesterday, Ravi asked Sonam to come to the coaching class as there were lot of topics to be covered in a short period,'' she said.

Around 10-45 a.m., two boys, Luv Sahni (12) and Ankit Talwar (13), saw Sonam being pushed down from the water tank on the fourth floor. On the second floor of the same building, Ravi ran a coaching class.

Both eyewitnesses were standing on the third floor balcony of an adjacent building. ``We were chatting and suddenly noticed the teacher and the girl (Sonam) standing on the water tank on the fourth floor. The teacher was trying to pull her towards the edge of the water tank, whereas, she was resisting his attempt,'' said Luv.

Noticing that something was amiss, the boys called out loudly for the teacher. But, by then Ravi had already pushed Sonam down the building.

Luv's father, Mr. Rajesh Sahni, was watching television in the drawing room when he heard his son's shouts. Then he heard a thud. ``I rushed to the balcony and saw Ravi climbing down the drain pipe. Bewildered, I shouted at him. But, he apparently lost grip and fell,'' said Mr. Sahni.

Mr. Sahni along with other area residents rushed downstairs and found Sonam in a pool of blood. Ravi, who lay at a distance, sustained minor injuries. Both were taken to hospital where Sonam was declared dead upon arrival.

Area residents said there was a question mark over Ravi's character. He had got married about 18 months ago but his wife left his house within six months. Recently, he had started a coaching class on the second floor of the building at E-226, West Patel Nagar.

A case of murder has been registered by Patel Nagar police and investigations are on. The girl's body has been sent for post- mortem.

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