An argument over non-payment of house rent has led to the death of a hundred level (ND 1) student of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri.

The chaos started after a caretaker in one of the hostels in the off-campus locked up the water tank of the hostel in his care, to deny students living there access to water supply for not completing their house rent.

The development, however, resulted in a heated argument and lead to the death of Anthony Chinweotito Emmanuel. The incident reportedly happened at a lodge called Ezinwanne on Tuesday but the affected student died on Saturday night, February 6.

The deceased is in his first year at the Department of Building Technology.

Narrating the incident, some of the students in the hostel, said the caretaker had locked up the water supply because some students could not pay their full house rent. In their argument, the students said they were out of the hostel from March 2020 until January 2021 when school reopening as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak across the country.

Not comfortable with the caretaker’s decision to lock the tap, the students reportedly opened the tap and fetch water. The development, however, stirred the caretaker’s anger upon his return to the lodge and thereby ripped off the water pipe completely. This led to an argument during which he allegedly picked up a block of wood and hit the deceased.

The caretaker reportedly took to his heels after seeing the Emmanuel in the pool of his blood. Fellow students rushed Anthony to the nearby hospital but he was rejected. He was later taken to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri where he died on Saturday.

Confirming the incident, a divisional police officer in charge of Nekede Police Station, told reporters that the accused caretaker is in police custody and the case would be handed over to the State CID on Monday, for further investigation.

Meanwhile, a 47-year-old zookeeper has been reportedly killed by two untamed tigers in Indonesia.

The incident happened on Saturday, February 6 after the wild animals were rescued from attempted escape.