16-year-old wanted to ruin Vadodara school’s name to avenge humiliation, stabs to death class 9 student

June 23 (AZINS) The Vadodara police on Saturday nabbed a 16-year-old boy from Valsad in the murder case of Dev Tadvi (14), who was found dead in the washroom of the Shri Bharati School in Baranpura area of Vadodara on Friday morning. It was revealed during police interrogation that the accused did not have any personal issue or dispute with Tadvi and just wanted to ruin the school's name after he was caught for cheating during exams last year.

Manoj Sasidhar, Vadodara Police Commissioner, said, "The accused and victim did not have any connection, they did not even know each other. It was just the second day of Tadvi at school. The accused randomly chose Tadvi, took him to the washroom and killed him. It could have been any other student in the school.

Further interrogation revealed that the accused had meticulously planned the crime. A coconut chopping knife, knuckles and a bottle full of water spiked with chilly powder were recovered from his bag.

As per the police, the father of the accused used to work as a coconut vendor. The accused took the coconut chopping knife of his father, knuckles and chilly powder from his home.

"The accused had anger issues and was a bully at the school, he couldn't handle the insult which he got from the school and took the revenge," Sasidhar said.

Tadvi's parents live in Anand, and he had joined Shri Bharti as his previous school did not offer classes beyond class eight. As his family’s financial condition was very poor, his maternal uncle had brought him to Vadodara to stay with him and study. On the second day of his school, Tadvi was stabbed to death by the accused. His body with nearly 10 stab wounds was found around 12 pm by some students who went to the washroom and saw Tadvi lying in a pool of blood.

Commenting on the psychological condition of the juvenile accused, Dr Smita Patel, Child Psychologist, said, "It usually happens that the child feels left out or humiliated. The fact that he didn't get good marks in his exam - he chose to take it out in this manner shows us a bit about which kind of environment he was brought up in."

"It's this humiliation and failure that needs to be dealt with - by the child's family and school teachers as well. Many children act aggressively when they fail at their level but the fact that this child resorted to violence shows the environment he was brought up in - violence might've been a normal part and parcel of life. We need to have more quality counselling in government schools as well where at least the teachers need to be involved at an emotional level as well," she said.