New Delhi: A 14-year-old boy died today when his head hit a wall after he was allegedly pushed by one of his classmates during a scuffle in a school here, the police said.

The incident was reported from northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar and the boy, who had pushed the victim, has been apprehended, they said. The police were informed that a child had fallen unconscious in a school here, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) A K Singla said.

The Class 7 student was taken to a private nursing home and later to a government hospital where he was declared brought dead, the officer said. The boy allegedly used to tease the victim, Prince, by calling him "chubby" and that had led to a fight between them, the DCP said. "In the fight, the juvenile pushed Prince whose head hit the wall and he fell unconscious," Singla said.

The police have registered a case and begun investigations, he said. Prince's family has claimed that he was beaten by four of his friends.

However, the police said that no external injury marks were found on his body and that only one student was allegedly involved in the matter. The exact cause of death would be ascertained in the post-mortem, they said. Prince's elder sister Kanchan claimed that they were informed around 10.20 pm that he was having fits and was unwell.

"Two children from the school came and told my mother that Prince was unwell. My mother rushed to the school, but was informed that he had been taken to a nursing home and will be back soon," she said.

Kanchan alleged that when her mother reached the nursing home, she found that there was no one present there from the school, and Prince was lying in a closed room. She claimed that her mother somehow opened the room and found that he was dead. "The incident happened in the second period," Kanchan said, adding that her younger brother, who studies in Class 6 in the school, had heard Prince's cries when he was being beaten. Kanchan said that her brother's classroom was next that of Prince.

Kanchan claimed that Prince had a fight with his friends around a month back and their mother had lodged a complaint with the school authorities. She claimed that the boys had a fight with Prince yesterday too.

"The four boys asked Prince to come and play with them as they had finished their classwork. But he refused to go saying that he needed to finish his work," the sister said. "They called my brother extremely studious and told him that they would teach him a lesson. He had told us about the incident, but we thought that it was between friends," she said.

"There were no CCTV cameras inside the school and no teacher inside the classroom to control the children," she alleged. The police said that they are probing the matter and will be questioning the school authorities.

PTI