According to Commissioner of Police Mohinder Lal, Akash smuggled his father’s pistol to school by concealing it in his socks. “He then hid it in the bathroom and probably retrieved it just before the shooting,” said Lal.

Based on the questioning of the two boys, Lal said: “Abhishek was known for bullying and threatening other students in the school. He had threatened both Akash and Vikas in earlier fights, saying he would kill them. The parents and teachers seem to have failed in counselling the boys, leading to this incident.”

“Abhishek had told us about the fight and that the two boys had reconciled subsequently,” said Manoj Tyagi, Abhishek’s uncle.

“Principal Mamta Sharma has told us that she had called the parents of all three boys to the school a month ago and asked them to either take the children for counselling or enrol them in meditation classes,” said Balan.

According to Tyagi, all three boys had been fighting for the last couple of months. “We dismissed it as school scraps and never imagined that it would lead to this.”

Students said that complaints of the frequent fights had reached the principal who had reportedly told Abhishek not to hit anybody and inform her if someone provoked him.

“Though we knew of the fights, we never expected children to be capable of such violence. We cannot be held responsible for this violence as school children are not frisked while entering the campus,” said Satbir Yadav, chairman of Euro International. “Children are not expected to be carrying firearms.”

... contd.