New Video In Tamil Nadu Schoolgirl's Death By Suicide, Probe On

A new video has emerged in a case of death by suicide by a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Tamil Nadu in which she is heard saying she "took poison" fearing her marks would fall. In an earlier video, the girl had said she drank poison alleging abuse by her hostel warden and an attempt to convert her to Christianity.

The Madras High Court's Madurai bench had ordered a magistrate to record her parents' statement. It also told the person who filmed the schoolgirl's statement to give the phone to the police for a forensic analysis. The phone is now with the police.

The court told the police not to harass the person who recorded the teen's statement on camera, and instead focus on investigating the circumstances that led to the death by suicide.

NDTV cannot independently verify the video.

In the new video, the teen says she couldn't concentrate in her studies and so took poison fearing her marks would fall. She says the hostel warden made her do other work, such as looking into accounts and cleaning the hostel.

The teen took poison at her home in Thanjavur on January 9 and died 10 days later. The hostel warden has been arrested under the Juvenile Act.

In the earlier video that surfaced after her death, the teen says she may have been harassed and abused because her family refused to convert to Christianity. "Two years ago, they asked me and my parents to convert to Christianity. They said they will take care of my education," the girl says in the video. On a specific question on whether she was targeted for not converting, she says, "Maybe".

The BJP has alleged forced conversion and sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The police, however, said the teen in her dying declaration and her parents while reporting to the police did not allege forced conversion. The parents also did not allege the conversion angle in their statement to the magistrate, the police said.

"We are doing a thorough investigation. We are recording statements of possible witnesses, students and teachers, besides checking their records," Thanjavur police chief MS Ravali Priya Gandhapuneni said.