India school opens after shooting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7143704.stm

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Students have returned to a school in India where a 14-year-old boy was shot dead, allegedly by two classmates.

The privately-run Euro International school, in the suburb of Gurgaon, near Delhi, was shut down for two days after the shooting.

Two boys, both fellow pupils at the school, are being held in juvenile custody accused of the killing.

Police say the boys took turns to fire shots at 14-year-old Abhishek Tyagi after smuggling a gun into school.

They believe one of the boys took his father's gun into the school and hid it in a toilet.

On Thursday the father of one of the boys was charged for negligently keeping a licensed firearm at his home.

'Shattered'

Chairman of the school Satya Vir Yadav told the BBC life at the school was returning to normal.

<a class="" href="/1/hi/world/south_asia/7140267.stm">Children recall shooting horror</a> "The school has reopened. We also have counsellors to talk to the children today," he said.

The parents of both the boys have spoken openly in front of cameras on Indian news channels, despite police saying they have been unable to contact some of them.

On Thursday, one said they did not believe that their son could be involved in the killing.

The father of a boy alleged to have taken the gun to the school, spoke of his distress at the killing.

"I am shattered. My son has committed a blunder," he said.

He insisted that the gun belonged to a friend who was a government employee in Gurgaon.

A senior Gurgaon police official, Satish Balan, said police had been questioning the two boys at a juvenile observation home.

"They keep telling us that Abhishek used to harass them and beat them up," he said.

But several parents told the BBC privately that the two boys who allegedly killed Abhishek had recently threatened him after a fight, and even sped around the school in a motorcycle a few days ago.

Incidents of gun crime at schools and colleges in India are very rare.

The school, which has 550 students and 38 teachers, has said it could not have foreseen what happened.