On Tuesday, B M Wanakar, principal in-charge of the school's boys' section, told Express Newsline said he had written to the Tribal Development Commissioner in 1998, suggesting that the boys' section be shifted to a separate premises as he feared ``some serious incident involving teenage boys and girls''. Principal of the girls section S J Jayswal said that she had written a similar letter but there was no reaction from the authorities concerned.

Wanakar said he had mentioned details of minor incidents involving students that were a result of their frequent contact. This was because both sections were run from the same premises and classrooms were located on the same floor.

``Though the classes for boys and girls are held separately by separate staff and they also reside in separate hostels, it is very difficult to prevent their mixing up when they attend classes on the same premises'', he stated.

The existing building is specifically meant for girls school only. However, the boys school, that was run from a rented premises, was shifted here in 1992. ``No such incident had happened earlier, when the girls and boys' schools were located at different places'', he said.

The two schools were run at rented premises since 1984. When the building for girls section was constructed and there was surplus space, the boys section was also accommodated in the same building.

Reconstructing the events that took place on Saturday, Wanakar said the accused -- Shankar Laloo Wanakar -- waited at the school's main gate much before the prayer time and stabbed the girl as soon as she reached, around 7-30 a.m. There were no staff members present, because the prayers are held at 7-45 a.m.

The possible weapon, Wanakar said, was a knife that students are allowed to keep small knives to cut datuns (wooden toothbrush). However, possession of the knife has now been banned. Investigating officer P F Gohil of Chhotaudepur Police Station said a small knife was recovered from the accused.

The murder has created tension between the communities the victim and the accused belonged to in their home village, Dungargaon, 25 kms from here. The three families of Wanakars -- a sub-caste among Scheduled Castes -- fled their houses on Sunday, fearing violence from the numerically and politically dominant Rathwas.

The mud-walled house of Gordhan Wanakar, uncle of the accused, and his provision shop were razed and goods looted by over two dozen people -- suspected to be from the Rathwa community -- after the girl died on Sunday. Seventy-year-old Chhidiabhai, who could not flee because of infirmity, was found dead in his house on yesterday. His relatives had to be called from a nearby village under police protection to perform his last rites.