Behrampore, Aug. 22: A Class VIII boy died after two of his friends allegedly banged his head on a wall several times over a dispute on where to sit in the classroom.

Tony Jamadar, 14, died in a hospital in Bengal’s Murshidabad district last night.

One classmate was arrested after Tony’s father lodged a police complaint this morning. The other is missing.

In his complaint, Tony’s father Gadal said one of the boys had held his son while the other banged his head against the wall.

“Speaking to my son’s classmates, I came to know that the two of them quarrelled with my son. Then one of them held him while the other banged his head against the wall. My son lost consciousness. The teachers took him to the rural hospital from where he was referred to the Behrampore General Hospital. He died there last night. I want my son’s murderers to be punished,” said Gadal, a group D employee of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company in Naoda, about 200km from Calcutta.

The headmaster of Naoda High School said it appeared to be an accident.

“We have learnt from other students that Tony and a classmate were quarrelling over sitting at a particular place. The third student intervened and pushed them apart. Tony accidentally fell and his head hit a bench,” said Nisith Ranjan Mondal.

According to the headmaster, when Tony became unconscious, his two mates took him to the school tube-well and tried to revive him by splashing water on his face. “When nothing happened, the students informed us and we took Tony to hospital.”

A student who was in the classroom during the incident said he was looking the other way and did not know what exactly happened.

“We are looking for the other boy,” said Pabitra Kumar Mustafi, the officer in charge of Naoda police station.

A Class IX student killed his friend’s 10-year-old sister on Monday because she would not lend him her MP4 player. In Suri, neighbouring Murshidabad, the boy pushed her off a bridge and then strangled her to make sure that she died.

Headmaster blow

The headmaster of a Nadia school allegedly hurled a calling bell at a teacher today when he asked for his salary, due for the past three months.