Mumbai: 

Unaware: Suresh Jhoting had gone to buy the cellphone for his son when the incident occurred. pic/kranti vibhute

The cellphone that Suresh Jhoting had bought as a gift for his son will never be used now. Jhoting lost his son Ravi (15) after a balcony wall of Gandhi Vidyalaya in Malad, collapsed yesterday morning.

Jhoting, who had gone to buy a SIM card for the cellphone when the accident happened, said, "Ravi was fascinated with mobile phones. So, we had bought one for him and were going to gift it to him in the evening. Now my son will never be able to use it." Ravi was Std X student.

The balcony collapsed during the recess, between 10.15 to 10.30 am. Two others - Std X student Akshay Kadam (15) and Std IX student Vikas Kale (14) - were seriously injured. All three were rushed to Bhagwati hospital. While Ravi was declared dead before admission, the others are still battling for their lives.

Jhoting is now demanding a police enquiry into the matter. "I will definitely ask the school authorities if they were aware of the condition of the balcony that killed my son," he said.

The school authorities, however, said the school was not at fault. Principal Harshada Sankhe said, "Instead of blaming each other, we need to understand the problem and our first priority is to calm down the parents. The construction work is new. We don't know how something like this could have happened."

Senior Inspector Jaywant Hargude of the Malvani police said, "The investigations are on. We will decide what case to file and whom to charge only after the report comes."