New Delhi, May 17 (TOI)  A picture posted on Facebook led to such bitterness among two Class X students of a well-known private school in central Delhi that one of them stabbed the other with a paper cutter in school on Wednesday morning.

The victim suffered six stab wounds, with the cutter slashing through his veins. He was rushed to the Ganga Ram Hospital in Rajender Nagar where an operation was conducted to stop the bleeding. The boy is now reported to be stable.

On Sunday, the attacker had warned the victim through a text message that he would be attacked in school. Not taking the threat seriously, the victim deleted the message after sharing it with friends and did not inform his parents or the school authorities about it, police said.

Friends and family members of the victim said the two boys, both 15 years old, turned bitter rivals after they attended a party some time ago. "Someone clicked a group photo at the party. The accused allegedly circulated a cropped photo of the victim with another student which was objected to by the victim. This led to tension between the two,'' said a family relative.

The attack took place around 7.25am near the school staircase. "The boys studied in different sections of Class X. For the past few days, there was some animosity between the two," said the school principal when contacted on phone.

"The school starts at 7.30am. These two boys arrived at the staircase and started fighting. One of them attacked the other with a sharp object, leaving gashes on his left hand. We have a tie-up with Ganga Ram Hospital and the injured student was taken there. Since it was a medico-legal case, the hospital authorities asked us to join the investigations,'' the principal said.

The principal said the school's prime concern was to ensure the quick recovery of the victim. "We can then decide on some disciplinary action," he added.

According to the victim's mother, the teenager had earlier complained of being bullied by the accused. "We got a call in the morning that we should come to the school. Twenty minutes later, we were told that my son was being taken to hospital as he had suffered injuries,'' she said.

She said she became aware of the alleged SMS only on Wednesday. "He had deleted the SMS threatening him of an impeding attack by the same boy,'' the mother claimed. The victim's father is a cloth merchant. Both boys live in west Delhi.

The accused's mother said her son was "repentant" over his actions. "He has told me that he suddenly lost his cool when he heard bad words spoken about one of his sisters. However, we have told him his actions cannot be justified. He is at present not feeling well and has been advised rest,'' she said.

Additional CP (central) Devesh Srivastav said a DD entry had been made about the attack at Rajender Nagar police station. Sources said the child will be asked to be present before the Juvenile Justice Board.

A Ganga Ram Hospital spokesperson said the boy was recovering well. "We found he had suffered six sharp wounds. But no major injury was noticed.''