Two Class 10 students remain critical after a 21-year-old man allegedly entered a Zilla Parishad school in Raptadu, Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, and attacked a girl with a chainsaw during a mathematics lesson on Friday, prompting a police investigation and an immediate review of school security.
The girl suffered serious injuries and is being treated at Anantapur Government Hospital along with another student who was injured while trying to intervene. Doctors are treating the girl as part of a multi-disciplinary team, and both students may be shifted to a super-speciality hospital in Bengaluru for advanced care, according to the report.
Police arrested the suspect at Dharmavaram Railway Station. He has been identified as a wholesale tomato vendor and is stated to be a relative of the girl. Investigators are examining CCTV recordings and eyewitness accounts to establish how he entered the campus and whether there had been any earlier connection between him and the student.
Anantapuram Circle Inspector C Srikanth said the school’s main gate was closed and students were inside their classrooms when the incident occurred. At about 10.30 am, while a Class 10 mathematics class was under way, the watchman reportedly went inside to fetch water for plants on the premises. Police suspect that the accused entered during this period.
Police officials also said eyewitness accounts indicated that the suspect may have been waiting outside the school gate for several hours before the attack. The school has several CCTV cameras, and investigators have collected the recordings as part of the inquiry. Officials are yet to establish the motive or confirm the nature of any prior relationship between the suspect and the girl.
The incident has placed renewed attention on the practical limits of school security arrangements, including gate supervision during school hours, monitoring of campus entry and the ability of staff to respond when a security gap appears. The available account does not establish whether the school had a formal visitor-screening system or whether any prior warning had been recorded.
The school will remain closed on Monday as students and teachers recover from the incident. Police said security would be strengthened when it reopens and that officials were working to reassure parents that students would be kept safe. The measures announced so far include increased police presence, while the investigation continues through CCTV examination and witness questioning.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu condemned the attack and said he was personally tracking the girl’s recovery. He directed officials to provide priority medical care and take stringent legal action against the accused. The chief minister later spoke to the student’s mother and to local MLA Paritala Sunitha about the treatment and assistance being provided to the injured students.
The police investigation remains focused on reconstructing the suspect’s movements, determining how he entered the school and establishing the circumstances preceding the attack. Further action will depend on the evidence collected from CCTV footage, eyewitnesses and the ongoing medical and legal processes.
