The principal and four teachers of La Martiniere for Boys have been accused of abetment to suicide in the death of Rouvanjit Rawla and find themselves at the receiving end of a police inquiry and a probe by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

The father of Class VIII boy Rouvanjit, who was found hanging in his Alipore house on February 12, lodged a complaint with Shakespeare Sarani police station on Monday charging the teachers with corporal punishment and torture.

“Ajay Rawla has accused five teachers of the school, including the principal, Sunirmal Chakravarthi, of misbehaving with his son and torturing him. He alleged that they drove him to commit suicide,” said an officer of Shakespeare Sarani police station.

“We have started a case of abetment to suicide against all the accused. As a first step we have asked for the post-mortem report,” he added.

No one from La Martiniere for Boys was available for comment on Tuesday.

The 11 Loudon Street campus was visited by a two-member committee from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights probing the Rawla case — and also the alleged demand for a laptop by a teacher and his refusal to promote Srijan Banerjee, of Class IV, when denied.

The two-member inquiry committee led by Ashok Agarwal met a “close friend” of Rouvanjit, his family members as well as the principal of the school along with eight other teachers on Tuesday.

“We have asked the school to submit a statement. We will go back to the school on Wednesday and question the teachers and principal further based on the statement,” Agarwal told Metro.

On the bribe case involving Sanjay Smart — who has been remanded in judicial custody till June 14 — Agarwal said: “The boy’s father met us and we have asked him to submit a written complaint. We will investigate this matter as well.”

Partha Pratim Banerjee, father of Srijan, told Metro: “The commission heard us out for over two hours. We told them of the extortion and victimisation at the hands of Smart, and how the principal had not even given us a hearing.”

What happens if the commission finds the teachers — and the principal — guilty of misconduct? It would recommend their removal. Is that binding on the school? It isn’t, but it can definitely act as an instrument of pressure and form the basis of subsequent action taken by the school or the state administration.

“Nothing will get Rouvanjit back and I don’t have a personal vendetta against the school but I want to make sure that no other boy suffers the fate of Rouvanjit,” said Rawla.

But why wait four months before filing a police complaint? “I had initially refused to believe my son had committed suicide and was convinced it was an accident. It was only later when I talked to his friends and went through his diary that I realised he was being humiliated and tortured in school,” said Rawla.

In his complaint to the commission, filed two months ago, Rawla mentioned the names of English teacher Partha Dutta, who had allegedly made Rouvanjit stand outside class, L.G. Gunnion, the head of the middle school, who had allegedly slapped the boy and principal Chakravarthi, who had allegedly caned him four days before his death.

Metro had on May 21 reported how two veteran members of the school board, Neil O’ Brien and K.S. David, were dropped after they demanded “suitable and immediate action against Smart” and “appropriate action” against the principal and teachers for inflicting corporal punishment in the Rawla matter.

The probe team has also asked for the report of the internal investigation conducted on the instance of board members like O’ Brien and David before they were dropped.