'I hit him because he called me billi'

ldquoMy intention was not to kill him I feel badrdquo the youngster told counsellors at the Umerkhadi Childrenrsquos Home in Dongri yesterday The 16yearold was arrested by Oshiwara police for allegedly murdering a fellow pupil at a coaching class on Wednesday night and has been kept in the remand home His parents came to visit but could not meet their son as at the time cops had taken him to the department of forensic medicine at JJ hospital for age verification MiD DAYrsquos report on January 11 As MiD DAY had reported yesterday Teen kills tuition colleague after brawl over bunking the immediate provocation had appeared to be the fact that the victim had threatened to bring the accusedrsquos frequent absence to the notice of the instructor An official at the remand home said ldquoThe 16yearold was brought here late on Thursday night by the Oshiwara police He was given a white Tshirt and red trousers special outfit of juvenile undertrials instead of the regular blue shirt and trousers provided to destitutes and runawaysrdquo At present 17 undertrial juveniles arrested for serious to petty offences are lodged at the remand home Since the 16yearold has been apprehended for a serious offence like murder he is sharing a separate room with three other juveniles above 16 years of age arrested for robbery and assault cases Thirteen other minors accused of lesser crimes like theft and pickpocketing are lodged on the ground floor The youngest is a 10yearold boy picked up for mobile theft His version In his statement the teen said that he was a student of class X in an Urdumedium school in Jogeshwari and wanted to join the Science stream after SSC His parents donrsquot have regular employment and he is second among four siblings He was going to a private tuition class every afternoon and the deceased was his classmate The accused says the victim would tease him by calling him lsquobillirsquo cat as he has brown eyes Also since he would sit in the last row in a class of about thirty students he was always bullied by the deceased who would often ask him to switch on and off the fans ldquoThe teenager also told officials that he had joined martial arts classes for a few months and that he only wanted to teach the victim a lesson not kill himrdquo said AK Jadhav superintendent of the remand home Jadhav added the accused revealed that he decided to hit the boy when all the students had gathered together outside the classes The victim fainted after receiving a blow Other boys who witnessed this tried to revive him but without success The teacher was summoned and he rushed the boy to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead ldquoI ran home as I was scared I did not inform anyone about the incident Around 900 pm cops arrived at my house and I was taken to the police station ldquoMujhe malum nahin tha ke ye marjayega lekin mujhe billi bulata tha isliye mujhe gussa aya Mujhe paschatap hota hai I did not know that he would die But since he would always tease me I lost my temper I feel guiltyrdquo the 16yearold told the superintendent The boy is now being taught tailoring and will also be provided basic computer training However he is not paid anything during his sessions and his parents wonrsquot be allowed to give him any pocket money They can only meet him once a week on Saturdays between 11 am and 1 pm Jadhav concluded Meanwhile a panel of two forensic surgeons conducted an autopsy on the deceased at Cooper postmortem centre However the cause of death will be announced only after the results of a histopathology test at JJ hospital and viscera for chemical analysis at Kalina forensic science laboratory are out u00a0