Midnapore, Feb. 18: A Class VIII boy died after being beaten by his classmates allegedly for not introducing one of them to a girl he knew.

Saodagar Dawn died on the way to NRS Medical College and Hospital early yesterday morning because of an internal haemorrhage that doctors could not detect earlier.

The police have launched a hunt for the three classmates — aged between 14 and 15.

“We have started a case against them,” said Balaram Biswas, the inspector in charge of Goaltore in West Midnapore, 170 km from Calcutta.

The boys have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Saodagar, a student of Pingboni High School, returned home on the afternoon of February 3 with bruises all over his body. “He told his parents after mush persuasion that he had refused to pass on a proposal to a girl,” an officer said.

One of the missing boys’ father is a schoolteacher and that of another a block office employee. The third has lost his father, an affluent farmer.

Saodagar’s father Rathindranath runs a family busi- ness in rice and potatoes. “My son was thrown to the ground and kicked with boots. His eyes and face were blue when he returned home,” he said.

“A teacher intervened to stop my son’s thrashing during the break, but headmaster Amar Biswas said no such in-cident occurred.” he added.

The police said there was negligence in the boy’s treatment. Saodagar’s father had taken him to doctors at Chandrakona in the same district and in Bankura where the injuries in his eyes, teeth and jaws were treated. But he turned pale gradually and his body began to bloat. On February 16, he was taken to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital.

“We realised there were severe internal injuries and advised the family to shift him to NRS,” hospital superintendent L.K. Ghosh said.