The Mayanur police on Wednesday arrested a teacher of the Pilipatti Panchayat Union Middle School in Pudukottai district in connection with the drowning of four girl students in the Cauvery river on Wednesday, February 15. The teacher had been placed under suspension by the School Education Department on Wednesday.
According to police sources, Jeba Sageyu Ebrahim (50), the accused had taken the students to the river for swimming.
He should not have taken them to the river when they had come to take part at the State-level sports meet held at the Kongunadu College of Engineering and Technology. Moreover, the teacher caused their death by negligence, the police have said.
The teacher was arrested under section 304 A (2) (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint lodged by S. Thilagavathi (60) of Woraiyur, another teacher who also accompanied a group of 15 students to the sports meet.
The accused has been sent for 15 days of judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate in Karur.
A solatium of Rs 2 lakh each to the parents of four school girls, who drowned in Cauvery, was handed over by Law Minister S Regupathy in Pudukkottai on Thursday after consoling them.
Minister Regupathy visited the houses of the victims V Sophia (Class 7), R Tamilarasi (Class 8), M Iniya (Class 6) and P Lavanya (Class 6), who lost their lives in the Cauvery in Karur while taking bath on Wednesday. The Minister, who consoled the parents, handed over the cheque of Rs 2 lakh from the state government. Karur MP S Jothimani, Collector Kavitha Ramu and others accompanied him.
Late on Wednesday, the parents refused to receive the bodies from Karur GH claiming that the post-mortem was conducted without informing them. They claimed that the teachers who accompanied the children were lethargic and so they lost their lives. However, the police held talks with the agitating people and clarified their stand and later, they received the bodies at night.
