Shocking CCTV footage has raised serious doubts about the circumstances surrounding the death of a kindergarten girl at St. Mary’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Vikravandi, Villupuram district. The footage suggests that the girl’s alleged death from falling into a septic tank is a staged act by the school staff and administration.
The alleged CCTV video footage that went viral in social media shows a female staff member carrying the child in her arms near the septic tank, where three other staff members are seen standing. The woman carrying the child approaches the septic tank, only to return shortly after. Other staff members then begin searching near the tank, while the child remains in the arms of the woman. At one point, another female staff member arrives with a ceiling dusting stick and pretends to search inside the septic tank, all while the child is still being held by the first staff member.
Finally, the driver, who had previously claimed to have found the child inside the septic tank, enters the scene and acts as though he is searching for the child within the tank and retrieving the child from the tank. The footage has shocked the community, raising questions about the true cause of the child’s death.
"அங்க பாருங்க… குழந்தைய கையில வச்சுக்கிட்டே தேடுற மாதிரி நடிக்கிறாங்க.. செப்டிக் டேங்ல விழுந்த குழந்தைய கம்பி போட்டு எடுத்தேன்னு சொன்னாங்க.. ஆனா,….." செப்டிங் டேங்கில் விழுந்து தான் குழந்தை உயிரிழந்ததா..? பிற்பகல் 2 மணியளவில் தனியார் பள்ளியில் நடந்தது என்ன..? சிசிடிவியால்… pic.twitter.com/0xXynitnm6
— Polimer News (@polimernews) January 11, 2025
Parents Seek CB-CID Investigation, Raising Suspicion Over Daughter’s Death at Villupuram School
The parents of a young girl from Villupuram have submitted a petition to the district collector, raising concerns about the circumstances of their child’s death and requesting a CB-CID investigation. This follows reports that they have received threats from unknown individuals urging them to cease their pursuit of justice, prompting them to also seek government protection.
The father, Palanivel, is a contract worker at the e-service center in Vikravandi, and his wife is Sivashankari. Their daughter, three-and-a-half-year-old Lia Lakshmi, was attending LKG at the St. Mary’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Vikravandi in Villupuram district.
In a petition submitted to the Villupuram Superintendent of Police, the girl’s father, K. Palanivel, expressed suspicions that his daughter, Lia Lakshmi, may have been murdered within the school. He claimed the school management was attempting to cover up the crime by fabricating the story that she accidentally fell into the septic tank.
Palanivel pointed out that the school is equipped with 37 CCTV cameras, yet the management only provided footage from 32 of them, withholding the remaining five. He stated that the footage submitted shows a teacher carrying his daughter toward the septic tank at 2:14 PM on the day of the incident, only to be seen carrying her back in the opposite direction shortly thereafter.
He further alleged that the school tampered with the CCTV footage that was not immediately submitted to the authorities, and that staff members were involved in concealing the truth, creating a false narrative that his daughter’s death was accidental.
Palanivel is calling for the police and school authorities to present all CCTV recordings to the court, as he believes there are efforts to destroy evidence. Disillusioned with the ongoing investigation, he has requested the case be transferred to the CB-CID to ensure a thorough examination of the circumstances surrounding his daughter’s death and bring the responsible parties to justice. He also reiterated his plea for government protection, citing the threats his family has received.
The victim’s mother, Sivashankari, speaking to the press, said, “My daughter reads way better, but she won’t write, and the teacher had beaten her for that. Something happened to my child. They should have immediately taken her to the hospital, but instead, they kept her in the school and created drama, saying ‘my daughter died after falling into the septic tank’, ‘she died because of feeding food.’ The teacher claimed that when she took attendance at 2:00 PM, my daughter was present and said she needed to go to the restroom. Afterward, she went missing. They searched for her, and a driver, using a torchlight, noticed a white shoe, then they searched with a stick, they found something out, then they found her. But this is not the truth—it’s a lie. This case should be transferred over to the CB-CID, and they should investigate to uncover what really happened.”
Sivashankari expressed further suspicion, stating, “She was wearing red shoes and white bottom, but the driver claimed that when they used a torchlight, they saw a white shoe, then they searched with a stick. This raised our doubts. Additionally, if a child had fallen into a septic tank, there should have been mud or water on her, but nothing was there. But when the police showed the photos of the shoes today, one was black and the other was white—why is that? One shoe appears as though she slipped into the septic tank, while the other is white. Also, my daughter’s ribbon had blood on it, and there were two bloodstains on her shirt. I could smell bleach powder from it. How could there be a bleach smell in the septic tank?”
சிறுமி மரணத்தில் சந்தேகம் – பெற்றோர் புகார் சிறுமியின் ஆடையில் ரத்தக் கறை.!#Viluppuram #Child #Death #School #Police #Teachers #NewsTamil #NewsTamil24x7 pic.twitter.com/yFksiY3W9W
— News Tamil 24×7 (@NewsTamilTV24x7) January 9, 2025
Accused Granted Bail
On 10 January 2024, the Madras High Court granted bail to the correspondent, principal, and a teacher of St. Mary’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Vikravandi, Villupuram district.
Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira granted bail to Sister A. Emelda, Sister A. Dominic Mary, and teacher A. Angel, following a request from senior counsel Rev. Fr. A. Xavier Arulraj. The petitioners had been in custody since 4 January 2025. Arulraj informed the court that the school management was willing to offer ₹5 lakh as ex-gratia, in addition to ₹3 lakh from the State government, to the child’s family.
The judge ordered the school correspondent to provide a demand draft in favor of the child’s father to the trial court, which was then instructed to hand it over to the parents. Upon being released on bail, the petitioners were directed to stay in Chennai for a week and report daily to the Mylapore police station, in addition to adhering to all other standard bail conditions.
Subscribe to our channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.