Patna, Feb 18 (IANS): A day after a Class 8 student of a leading private school in Bihar's Gaya died in mysterious circumstances, the district administration has initiated a legal inquiry as it waits for the post-mortem report, officials said on Thursday.

District Education Officer M. Khan said that the matter is under investigation. "District police are investigating it on legal issues while we are monitoring it from an educational point of view," he said.

The Class 8 student of the G.D. Goenka School died as soon as he boarded the school bus on Wednesday afternoon.

"As per the statement of the deceased's younger brother who was also a student of the school, some persons used elbows to beat him. Though, we have not seen any external injuries on his body. We are waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain the actual cause of the incident. The FIR is registered against unknown persons of the school," DSP, Town, P.N. Sahu told IANS.

"We have also taken the DVR of the CCTV for analysis to find out the sequence of incident," he said.

Meanwhile, the school administration denied the charges of physical assault on the student.

School Principal, Dr H.K. Pandey told IANS: "The student was walking normally at a time of closing of the school. As per the CCTV footage, he was seen walking in the corridor of the school in normal position and boarding the bus. When he took a seat in the bus, he fainted. The helper and senior students inside the bus rescued him and took him to the reception area of the school. We sprinkled water on his face and he regained consciousness for a few minutes. We took him to a nearby local hospital for treatment but he was referred to Jay Prakash Narayan Hospital. We went there with him. After one hour of treatment, he died."

"We have 48 CCTV cameras in the school premises wherein he was walking normally. The CCTV cameras on the floor where his class room is located are under maintenance," Pandey said.

"There is no question of physical assault inside the school. In private schools, no teacher or principal would dare to beat any student. I believe that he is having health issues. The school is open after a long gap due to coronavirus and physical appearance for students may be the reason for his discomfort. We have also talked to fellow students of his class and they claimed that he was having a stomach ache on Wednesday," he added.

"We generally look after the health of junior students. Under the rotation system, the student sat on the front row of the class in front of teachers. We have set up an internal inquiry committee of the school to investigate it separately. We have closed the school on Thursday after the sad demise of our student," Pandey said.