KOHAT: A watchman of Government Centennial High School No 4 was killed by a student with the former’s own gun following a brawl on Wednesday, police said.

The student escaped after the incident, and the school’s administration did not took any action against him by terming the killing as accidental.

Masood Khan, the cousin of the deceased, Haroon Khan, told journalists that the school’s administration also destroyed the CCTV footage of the incident.

According to the police, the accused boy went to his home and told his parents that he had killed the school watchman by mistake as he did not know that his Kalashnikov was loaded.

The boy said whenever he came late to school the watchman did not allow him to go inside.

On Wednesday, he again came late and after arguments, the watchman opened the gate for him.

As he started going to the class the watchman asked him to close the gate, to which he told him that it was his duty.

After that a brawl took place and the angry watchman gave his gun to him and asked to kill him, the police said.

They said the gun, which the boy pointed at the guard, went off and the bullet hit his chest.

He died on the spot.

The police said the body was taken to the KDA teaching hospital and initially a case was registered under section 337 (accidental death).

However, Masood Khan said after their hue and cry the police arrested the accused student, Owais Khan, who had admitted that he killed the watchman by mistake.

Afterwards, a fresh murder case under section 302 was registered against the accused, the police said.

DENGUE PATIENTS ON RISE: The number of dengue patients in Kohat has risen to 193, health officials said on Wednesday.

An official, Rashid Bokhari, told Dawn that like the previous years, majority of patients had been reported from Lachi tehsil.

He said an infected victim had come from Punjab to Lachi from whom the dengue spread in the area. He said now the disease had engulfed the whole district and the number of patients was increasing.

He said 10 male and eight female patients were under treatment in the KDA hospital, whereas others had been discharged after treatment.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2019