Telangana: Teen falls from hostel’s broken window, dies

NARSAMPET (WARANGAL): An 18-year-old boy died on Friday night when he mysteriously fell from the second-floor window of his hostel room at Narsampet town in Warangal. He fell down while he intervened in a scuffle between two of his roommates.
N Sanjay Kumar, a second-year polytechnic student of Balaji Institute of Technology & Science, was first taken to a hospital in Narsampet.He was later shifted to another hospital in Warangal, where he died.
One of Sanjay’s roommates had apparently broken the window on September 22. Sanjay’s family members alleged that instead of fixing the window, the college management insisted that the boys’ families pay for the damage. This led to a squabble between two of Sanjay’s roommates, ending in a tragedy.
The college management denied the allegation. “In fact, we had warned the students about the window and even informed their parents. Also, maintenance work of the windowpanes was underway in a few rooms. This room too would have been covered as part of it,” said V S Hariharan, principal of BITS.
Narsampet assistant commissioner of police C Phani said a case was registered under sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and negligence causing death. Sanjay’s roommates are being questioned on how he fell from the open window.
“Two roommates, Shiva Sai and Hari Raju, had argued over a broken windowpane in their hostel room,” Phani said. “Shiva was suspected to be responsible for the damaged window.
On Friday, Hari accused Shiva of making life difficult for his other roommates with his behaviour. This annoyed Shiva, who hit Hari and it led to a scuffle.”
He added that Sanjay tried to pacify both boys. “We suspect that Sanjay was pushed and he fell out of the open window. We are trying to find out who pushed him.”
The incident started when they were having dinner. At the time of scuffle it looked like they were standing on a cot, which was adjacent to the broken window. The room is shared by five students. The boys were using four cots to sleep on while the fifth was used as a dining table and to keep other things.
“It is still unclear whether the glass fell after one of the roommates broke it intentionally or accidentally. We do know that before Sanjay fell from the window, the college staff had called the parents of the roommates and informed them about property damage. The boys were reprimanded,” a police official said.