On a school trip to Mussoorie along with 180 other children, Shivam Soni (9), a Class V student, was found lying dead outside the hotel he was staying in, early on Sunday morning.
Soni, a student of ITL School, Dwarka, appeared to have fallen off the balcony of his hotel room at night. The body was spotted by a driver at the hotel.
According to Renu Joshi, one of the 23 teachers who had accompanied the children to Mussoorie, Soni was sleeping in his room at Hotel Dunsvirk Court, with three other students — Bharat, Agrim and Sagar.
"We checked on all the students late on Saturday night," said Renu Joshi, one of the teachers who had accompanied the students.
"Shivam was fast asleep in his room along with three other boys assigned to that room."
The students had left Delhi on May 8.
"We got the first call from his class teacher at around 7.30 am telling us that Shivam had fallen off the balcony and hurt himself. Then there was a second call to tell us he was dead," said Rajesh Verma, Shivam's uncle.
Shivam is the only child of his parents who live in Najafgarh. Shivam's family suspects foul play.
"There's no reason why he should have gone to the balcony in the middle of the night. How could he have accidentally fallen off when the balcony railing was about two and a half feet high?" Verma asked.
