“Jyoti and Payel were my best friends. Why would I kill them?”

The nine-year-old suspect in the death of two of her classmates at Dwivedi Devendra Vidyalaya in Bansdroni has been asking every “police uncle” who comes calling to her Harisabha Math home this question.

On Monday morning, the Class IV student broke down repeatedly while recounting to Metro the events leading to the death of Jyoti Singh and Payel Pandey.

“On Thursday, Payel and I were sitting together on the third bench. Jyoti was sitting in front of us and we were chatting. During the tiffin break, I went to my sister’s classroom and ate from her tiffin-box. When I came back to my class, Jyoti was vomiting and Payel was sitting on a bench and crying,” said the girl in a sky blue frock in her two-room house.

“I was never jealous of Jyoti and Payel. I don’t know why everyone is suspecting me. Even the police uncles and my teachers are asking me strange questions,” added the child.

The police took away one of her exercise books to check whether her handwriting matched with those on two notes found near the school. Handwriting samples have also been collected from other students of the school.

The suspect’s father, whose leg has been amputated and who maintains his family by running a tiny stationery shop in the area, said the girl is under trauma. “She cannot sleep properly at night and wakes up and cries holding her mother. Two poor kids have died and now my daughter is in grave trouble…,” he said.

The father has informed the school authorities that he would admit his daughter to another institution because he could not “watch her suffer”. Devendra Dubey, the principal of school that reopened on Monday, said some other students too had decided to move to other schools.

“Jyoti was eating from Payel’s tiffin box on Thursday. I also saw Jyoti sip an orange drink from a plastic bottle, which she later shared with Payel. Both fell ill soon after,” said Roshni Pandey, a classmate of the three girls. Teacher Kiran Dwivedi said Jyoti had told her that the suspect had fed her rat poison.