Residents disrupt traffic on GT Road near Barun to protest the murder in Aurangabad on Sunday. Picture by Sanjay Choudhary

Fifteen-year-old Amit Raj did not have the faintest idea that he would have to pay with his life for not helping his classmate in a school examination.

A classmate of Raj, a Class X student of a government high school in Aurangabad, assaulted him when the latter was returning to his rented room after attending coaching classes at Mohanganj on Saturday.

Investigating officers said Raj, belonging to the fishermen community and hailing from Dehri-on-Sone, had refused to help his classmate in the ongoing summative examination at the school.

Infuriated over the denial, Raj’s classmate (whose identity is being withheld as he is a juvenile), hit him in the abdomen, causing severe injuries. Raj slumped to the ground. Some passers-by found Raj lying on the road and rushed him to the Dehri government hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.

Station house officer (SHO) of Barun police station Anil Kumar Dubey said the accused was arrested from his native village, Bhuyian, under the jurisdiction of Obra police station in Aurangabad district on Sunday.

The SHO said he would be produced before the juvenile court on Monday. A Class VII student of the same school, who was returning home with the duo, identified the accused and a search was launched to arrest the culprit, he said.

The investigating officer said Kunal Kumar Choudhary, a teacher, used to give tuition to the students at his home. The teacher described Raj as a brilliant student and recalled that he never quarrelled with anybody. The police officer said: “The tutor admitted that both the deceased and the accused had appeared normal at the coaching classes on Saturday.” Choudhary was let off after interrogation.

The SHO said the victim’s body was handed over to his relatives after post-mortem. The local market remained closed and a mob paralysed traffic movement on GT Road near Barun on the Aurangabad-Rohtas border.