Boy, 6, dies while playing in school

Mumbai: A six-year-old boy, Swarang Dalvi, died due to an unknown reason during recess at Chandivali-based Pawar Public School on Thursday morning. The Saki Naka police has registered an accidental death report. According to the police, Swarang fainted on the second floor while playing during the school’s short recess (between 9.50 am and 10.15 am). The kid was rushed to Hiranandani Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. His post-mortem is being conducted at the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital.

The Pawar Public Charitable Trust runs the school and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule is its managing trustee. When contacted, Ms Sule said, “It is a very unfortunate incident. The principal rushed him to Hiranandani Hospital but he was declared dead by the doctors. The entire incident was captured in the CCTV cameras installed in the school. We have provided the CCTV footage to the police.”

According to police, the incident took place around 10.10 am on Thursday. Swarang, a standard 1 boy, was playing with his fellow classmates on the second floor of the school building, after having his mid-day meal. “While playing, he went to a corner and stood for a while and then suddenly collapsed. He was immediately attended by the medical staff of the school, who rushed him to the hospital,” said a police source.

When asked if the school knew about Swarang’s medical history, Ms Sule said, “The parents had not provided any medical history record while taking admission.” While Dr Madhura Phadke, principal of the school said, “The school did whatever it could at that moment, but unfortunately he was declared dead.”

Swarang’s father, Ratnadeep Dalvi, worked as a music teacher in the school’s Bhandup branch. The parents are in shock over their son’s sudden death, and left with the boy’s body for Rajawadi Hospital. Dr Vidya Thakur, superintendent of Rajawadi hospital refused to divulge any details of the bereaved parents. “This is a police case. We cannot reveal the contact details of the deceased boy’s parents,” she said.

Senior police inspector, Avinash Dharmadhikari of Saki Naka police station said, “An ADR has been registered, and we are probing the case. The autopsy reports are awaited, which will take the case forward.”

Naseem Khan, an MLA from Chandivali said the post-mortem will ascertain the cause of death. “But prima facie it seems he died of natural causes,” he said.