A Class XI boarder at the central government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in East Midnapore’s Mahisadal was found reportedly unconscious on Friday, prompting school authorities to rush him to a hospital where he was declared dead.

The father of deceased Rahul Giri, 16, accused school authorities of negligence.

The incident came to light when Rahul did not turn up for his physical training session.

Soumen Mukherjee, senior teacher, said: “At 5.30am on Friday, PT teacher Rajeev Ranjan Dakua started his physical exercise class. As Rahul, a residential student of Class XI, was absent, the teacher went to the hostel. He found Rahul unconscious on the bed. School authorities rushed Rahul to Mahishadal rural hospital but doctors declared him dead.”

Rahul’s father Amalkumar Giri accused the school of negligence. Giri said: ”Around 6am, I received a call from the school saying my son had been taken to Mahishadal Rural Hospital as he was unwell. When I reached, I saw my son dead on the hospital bed. But I heard in the hospital that Rahul died at the school itself. To hush up the matter, he had been rushed to the hospital. It happened because of extreme mismanagement in school.”

“It is not yet clear how he died. The body has been sent for post-mortem,” said a police officer, adding that the post-mortem was done at Haldia subdivisional hospital.

Officer-in-charge of Mahisadal police station, Praloy Kumar Chandra, said: “So far no written complaint has been submitted on it. The cause of death will be known when the autopsy report is out.”

A doctor at the Mahisadal hospital said: “Prima facie, we think Rahul died of heart failure owing to hyperacidity. If there is foul play, the post mortem report will specify the exact reason of death.”

According to school sources, Rahul used to live on the first floor of the hostel. A total of 24 students lived on this floor. A classmate of Rahul said: “He studied in this school from Class V. On Thursday night all the students slept in their beds but after 3am Rahul went to the bathroom with another friend. Both fell asleep after coming back. In the morning, we all went for our PT class. We did not realise that Rahul was still sleeping.”