CHANDIGARH: A student studying in the 12th standard of a Haryana school walked into the principal’s office and shot her down with his father’s licensed revolver after he was scolded for low score and highhanded behaviour. Ritu Chhabra, the 47-year-old principal of Swami Vivekanand School at Yamunanagar, succumbed to her injuries later in a hospital.
Chhabra is believed to have taken the 18-year-old boy to task for picking up fights with schoolmates and teachers and for his poor academic record. After shooting her, the boy tried to flee, but was overpowered by parents and locals outside the campus. A large number of parents were in the school to attend a parent-teacher meeting when the murder took place.
Besides booking the boy for murder, police have arrested his father, a moneylender whose revolver was used to kill Chhabra. This is the third case of a major crime being committed in a school in tIndia in a matter of just three months. According to sources, the commerce student was weak in studies and would not hesitate to argue with his teachers over petty matters. Chhabra had reprimanded him on a number of occasions.
“On the fateful day, the boy left home after telling his parents that he was going to his coaching class but landed up at the school instead,” said Yamunanagar SP Rajesh Kalia. “He went into the principal’s office on the pretext of getting a form signed. At the time, Chhabra was alone in the cabin. The boy first walked out and then immediately went back and fired four shots at Chhabra. While two bullets hit her arms, a third hit her in the chest. The fourth bullet brushed past her head.”
The school staff and the parents rushed Chhabra to a hospital where she died due to excessive bleeding.
