Mumbai: Two teachers of a private school in suburban Virar have been arrested for beating up three Grade 9 students following which they tried to escape from the hostel and died by falling into a nearby river.

The two teachers, identified as Ripusudan Shivkumar Gardh, 32, and Sandeep Janya Palva, 26, of Vagad Gurukul International School at Sakwar in Virar, were arrested on Thursday morning, said Virar police.

The bodies of the three 14-year-olds, Khushal Dagha, Meet Chhadwa and Prahul Patel, were recovered on Wednesday from Sukh River which is near the compound wall of the residential school complex. School authorities had informed the police of the missing boys on Monday night.

The incident has sent shock waves through Virar and surrounding suburbs. Children from the school have reported that the three tried to escape from the school fearing more corporal punishment.

They were among the students in the school who were allegedly caned by the teachers for poor performance — including for doing badly in Sanskrit. Some of the boys have told the police that if a boy scored 2 out of 20, he would be given 18 lashes. Preliminary investigation revealed that the boys had been beaten on Monday for doing badly in the 20-marks Sanskrit test and told to reappear for the class test on Tuesday. They were generally thrashed according to the marks they scored. Fearing they would perform badly again, the trio escaped from the school at around 8.30pm.

It is not clear whether they escaped through the hole in the boundary wall of the school premises or scaled the wall but it is possible they did not realise the river was deep during the rains.

The Virar police had initially registered accidental case but are now looking at all angles including suicide, homicide or drowning and the corporal punishment angle, after recording the statements of other students at the school and parents.

Based on the complaint by Suresh A Chhadwa, the father of Meet, one of the deceased students, that the students were caned, police arrested the two teachers, police said.

The duo has been charged under sections 305 (abetment to suicide to suicide of child) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code and section 23 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000.

The school which has CBSE curriculum has been running in the area for about ten years and has around 100 students.