Local protesters torched two school vans following recovery of the bodies of two students of a residential public school located near Nirpur village in Bihar’s Nalanda district on Sunday. (Source: PTI photo) Local protesters torched two school vans following recovery of the bodies of two students of a residential public school located near Nirpur village in Bihar’s Nalanda district on Sunday. (Source: PTI photo)

The director of a private school in Nalanda was Sunday lynched by a mob, which had gathered after the bodies of two schoolchildren were found in a canal nearby.

Police said the director was kicked and hit with bamboo sticks by the mob, which comprised mostly of teenagers.

The victim, Devendra Prasad Sinha (53), ran a school called DPS, which he had named after himself. The school has no connection with the popular chain that goes by the same acronym.

Nalanda incident: Family members & locals brutally thrashed school principal,set vehicles & school property on fire pic.twitter.com/OS2oReP8UY — ANI (@ANI_news) June 28, 2015

The incident took place at 11.30 am in Bihar’s Mirpur village after the bodies of two Class IV students, who stayed in the hostel, were discovered. The parents of the two boys had earlier filed a missing persons report with the police. Police said villagers suspected the school management was involved in the deaths of the two boys.

Nalanda Police, however, said they were still trying to ascertain what led to the death of the children. Video footage aired by TV news channels showed Sinha on the ground trying to cover his face and head with his hands. Three teenagers could be seen hitting Sinha with their legs as another beat him with a bamboo. The teenagers also set a couple of vehicles and two rooms in the school on fire.

The victim was taken to Patna Medical College and Hospital but succumbed to his injuries. Nalanda Superintendent of Police S M Jain said the police were studying the video footage to identify the people who attacked Sinha.

The victim’s daughter Swarnlata Sinha, meanwhile, alleged that the school principal was to blame since she had called her father to the school. She also said the police did not act in time.

“The school principal called my mother around 11 am asking her to save my father. I immediately talked to a police officer from Hilsa police station. But Nalanda Police did not reach the spot in time and the attackers went on to attack the school and bludgeon my father,” she claimed.

“My father could have been saved but the police were lax and allowed the mob to lynch him.”

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