Siliguri, Jan. 6: A futile attempt to uncover the mystery shrouding his 13-year-old son’s death has led a father to knock on the doors of Calcutta High Court.

Ashrampara resident Tapan Saha, the father of Toton Saha who died of a nose-bleed at the hostel of St Michael’s Boarding School on the fringes of the town, has sought the court’s help to know what actually caused his son’s death on October 19.

In a writ petition filed with the high court, Saha has complained of “gross dereliction of duty on the part of the officer-in-charge of Bhaktinagar police station” and pleaded for an independent inquiry into the incident.

“The postmortem report published on October 24 says Toton’s death was caused by a head injury that led to internal brain haemorrhage. I want to know how that injury was caused. I want to know what happened to him and have those guilty punished. It has been almost three months now and neither the school authorities nor the police have offered any convincing explanation as to how my son died,” said Saha, his voice cracking. He has also sought the intervention of the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission on the case.

Toton was declared brought dead by a local nursing home on Sevoke Road, where he was taken by the school authorities while bleeding from the nose.

Suspecting foul play, Saha lodged an FIR on October 22. He alleged that his son would not have died had the school rushed him to a hospital sooner or informed his family.

Twelve days after the incident Bhaktinagar police arrested the school’s dormitory warden Champak Mukherjee on charges of criminal negligence and culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He was later released on bail. The court is yet to set a date for hearing.

“Bhaktinagar police had refused to register a case of unnatural death in the first place, forget investigation,” Saha said. He also alleged that St Michael’s School attempted to “down play the seriousness of the incident” in collusion with a police officer.