Chennai: Class 9 boy stabs science teacher to death

In a shocking incident, a ninth standard student on Thursday stabbed his teacher to death inside the classroom after she allegedly made some remarks against students who did not fare well in studies.

The incident occurred at the St Mary's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai when science teacher Uma Maheshwari (39), who also taught Hindi, was taking lessons in class, police said.

The boy, 15-year-old Mohammed Irfan, son of a daily labourer, has been taken to custody but the exact motive behind the killing is yet to be clearly ascertained.

"The boy came with a knife wrapped in a paper," a policeman investigating the case said.

Meanwhile, school authorities described the incident as 'unexpected', and indicated that the 15-year-old boy had come prepared with a plan.

"The incident happened at around 10.50 am when he stabbed the teacher with a knife he had hidden in a book," Father Bosco Perianayagam, the administrator of the school, said.

Other students raised an alarm before the boy fled the scene, he said. However, he was later taken into custody.

Uma Maheshwari is survived by two children, Fr Bosco said, adding "We are in deep grief. This is an unexpected incident."

Irfan's schoolmates said he was not an aggressive child, but was quite aloof.

"He never used to mingle with others," a student said.