MADURAI: A class XII student hailing from Allinagaram in

died in a fight with his classmate on Friday in what is claimed to be a friendly fight having turned fatal. Allinagaram police said the student was strangulated to death during the fight and they had picked up the other student for inquiry.

The deceased was identified as M Thirumal, 17, of Kambar Street, son of a construction labourer. He was studying in commerce group at the Allinagaram government higher secondary school. Police sources said

went home to have lunch and returned to school by 1.30 pm. He and his friend began playfully poking each other in the classroom, but soon it turned into a fight. They strangulated each other and suddenly, Thirumal collapsed unconscious. The incident created panic among the students who carried him outside the class. Meanwhile, teachers rushed there and took him to a private hospital nearby.

Doctors who checked him advised them to shift him to

hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead. Inquiries with the family members revealed that the student had antecedents of seizure. Family members of the students and a large number of relatives thronged the hospital.

An official from education department said though she could not visit the school for inquiry, they had come to know about it through the headmaster. The deceased boy and the juvenile in conflict with law were friends from class VIII. It was an unfortunate incident that took place when they were playing with each other, she said.

Meanwhile, relatives and parents of the deceased staged a road block urging the police to arrest the students involved in the incident.

They also wanted the officials to provide compensation. They called off the protest after two hours as a result of talks conducted by the police.

A higher police officer said that inquiry was under way and a first information report was yet to be registered. The juvenile in conflict with law could face arrest, he said. The body of the student is lying in the hospital’s mortuary.