Kansur Teacher Booked for Murder After 10th-Grade Student Found Dead

The Uttara Kannada police have registered a murder case against a school teacher at the Indira Gandhi Residential School in Kansur, Siddapur taluk, following the death of a tenth-grade student who was found dead in his hostel room 15 days ago. The police reclassified the case from suicide to murder after the student's mother, Jayashri Krishna Gouda, filed a complaint alleging that the teacher had threatened her son for witnessing him misbehaving with a girl student.

The deceased student was identified as Gokul Krishna Gouda, who had been studying at the residential school for the past two years. The accused teacher, Abu Thala, served as the school's Hindi teacher and the in-charge hostel warden.

In her complaint, Jayashri stated that Gokul had witnessed Abu Thala misbehaving with a ninth-grade girl student. When the teacher discovered that Gokul had witnessed his actions, he allegedly squeezed the boy's neck and threatened to kill him if he disclosed the incident to anyone.

Jayashri recounted that during her last visit to the school, she noticed a swelling on her son's neck. While Gokul did not explain it at the time, he later revealed the threat and the warden's behavior when he returned home for a vacation. The complaint also stated that the teacher had previously been transferred from another school in Hasikatta village following similar allegations of misconduct with a female student.

Gokul was found hanging by a towel from a window grill in his hostel room. His mother raised further suspicions by noting that while the entire village of Kansur had electricity on the night of the incident, the school did not.

Following the student's death, local residents, along with BJP and Congress workers, staged protests demanding a thorough investigation. In response, the managing director of the Residential Education Societies Sangha suspended Abu Thala and the school's in-charge principal, Javed.

The police have registered the case under Section 103 of BNSS and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act, which pertains to cruelty against children. Karwar Deputy Superintendent of Police SV Girish is currently leading the investigation team.