The 18-year-old schoolboy who allegedly slipped into the Subernarekha Multi-purpose Project canal at Chhotabanki near the steel city on Friday and whose body was found on Saturday, had been wearing a condom.

Also, no selfie near the canal was found in phones and camera of the deceased Abhinav Jha’s friends Rishi Raj, Alap Banerjee and Dhiraj Singh, as they earlier had claimed, making the selfie death theory appear suspect.

It is not clear why Abhinav was wearing a condom and whether there was a girl with the four boys who had left their homes on Friday morning for a getaway on two bikes, one being that of the deceased.

The police discovered the condom before the body was sent for inquest on Saturday, MGM thana OC Arvind Kumar, under whose jurisdiction the canal falls, said on Sunday.

During preliminary inquiries, the three surviving boys had told police they had been clicking selfies by turns when Abhinav fell. Abhinav’s cellphone could not be traced, but on Sunday, when the surviving boys’ phones and a camera were checked, pictures of the highway en route to the canal were found on the devices.

Though police have not ruled out the possibility that the boys on their own deleted pictures — the devices were with them all along — they are probing what exactly happened at the canal or near it.

The fact that Abhinav had been wearing a condom has opened up several possibilities, MGM police station OC Arvind Kumar said.

“We have asked the three friends about it. But they are not saying anything,” he said.

OC Kumar added they sent a team led by MGM thana sub-inspector Lalan Kumar Mishra with the three boys Rishi, Alap and Dhiraj to Chhotabanki on Sunday evening, where the mishap scene was recreated. But no new angle came to light from the trip.

The OC added Rishi, Alap and Dhiraj were all above 18. “But we do not want to put any pressure on them or scare them as they are not mature,” he said.

DSP (Patamda) Vijay Mahto said the four boys had taken a camera besides their respective smartphones. “We checked smartphones of all three boys. The pictures were all of NH-33. None were of the canal as they initially claimed they were taking selfies near the canal,” said Mahto. “The boys must know the truth but they are not saying anything.”

Abhinav’s call detail records would be scanned now, the police said.

The OC on Saturday had said after Abhinav fell, his three friends neither informed the police nor the boy’s family, which struck the police as very odd. Abhinav, Rishi, Alap and Dhiraj were not only residents of Baridih, but were also Class XII science classmates at the same Netaji Subhas Public School and even went to the same coaching class.