Balrampur police on Wednesday arrested the owner and operator of a DJ system in connection with the death of a seven-year-old girl who collapsed inside her classroom as a Ganesh idol immersion procession accompanied by loud music passed near her school on Monday (September 21), officials said.
The arrests came as police stepped up their probe into the circumstances surrounding Vaishnavi Tiwari’s death, preserving CCTV footage and seizing the DJ vehicle and sound equipment to establish the sequence of events and examine whether prescribed noise limits were violated, they added. Police seized the pick-up vehicle and the DJ sound system and other equipment allegedly used during the procession. Investigators are examining whether the equipment was operated in violation of prescribed noise limits or other conditions governing religious processions. Officials clarified that police had not attributed Vaishnavi’s death to the DJ sound. No post-mortem examination was conducted, leaving doctors without a definite medical cause of death.
Recounting the incident, Pandey said Vaishnavi, a Class 2 student, collapsed at Divine Public School around 10:58 am on Monday while attending class. He said the two were booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide) and 223 (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“Iqra Khan, a teacher, told police that the DJ sound intensified and vibrations could be felt inside the classroom when Vaishnavi’s condition deteriorated,” he added. CCTV footage from the school and surrounding area shows Vaishnavi sitting in class before she collapsed and briefly recovered before falling again, according to police. Pandey said police registered an FIR at Kotwali Nagar police station on Wednesday on a complaint by school manager Ashish Kumar Upadhyaya and arrested Balaji Hi-Tech DJ owner Chandra Prakash Verma and operator Rampal Saini.
