Bus conductor's family to file case against cops in Pradyuman Thakur murder case: All developments so far

A day after a 16-year-old student of Gurugram’s Ryan International School was apprehended by the CBI in connection with the murder of a class 2 student, the family of Ashok Kumar, the school bus conductor who was arrested initially, decided to file a case against police officers who “framed” him. “Now it is almost clear that my son Ashok was framed and made a scapegoat. We have decided to file a case against Gurugram Police SIT officers who framed and used torture and even drugged him to confess before the media that he had committed the crime,” said Ashok’s father Amirchand. He said the family was seeking financial help from the villagers in filing the case. “Villagers are with us and they all want us to demand justice for Ashok and action against irresponsible police officials,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_4202741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Ashok Kumar, the school bus conductor. PTI[/caption] CBI clears conductor Ashok Kumar CBI In a sensational twist to the case, announced on Wednesday that it had apprehended a senior student of Ryan International School on Tuesday night in connection with the murder of Pradyuman Thakur, rejecting the Gurugram police’s theory that the killing was the handiwork of Ashok Kumar. The CBI said that there was no evidence against Kumar so far. The agency on Thursday, according to The Indian Express, said that the 16-year-old boy killed Pradyuman as he wanted to get a parent-teacher meeting and exams postponed. “He believed that a sensational act would either force the school to shut down for a few days or create enough disruption to cancel the exams and the parent-teacher meeting,” said a CBI officer was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. Pradyuman Thakur’s father asks CBI to quiz Pintos The family of Pradyuman on Thursday demanded that the CBI must question the Pintos, the founders of the school, and that the arrested 16-year-old student of the school, now a prime suspect, should be tried as an adult. “The CBI should grill, interrogate and arrest the Pintos’ family,” Barun Chandra Thakur, father Pradyuman, told IANS. He also said that the Pintos should not be given any “leeway” just because they are “high and mighty”. Classmates say 16-year-old student was a ‘bully’ The classmates of a student apprehended for the killing of Pradyuman allege he often showed “ rude behaviour ” and was ready to slap others. The classmates claimed he had a “vulgar character”. “He is heavier than normal boys of his age and always ready to slap others over trivial issues,” a student of his class alleged on Thursday. Opposition slams Khattar government over ‘shoddy’ police probe  The Opposition attacked the BJP government and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over the “shoddy” police probe. Ajay Yadav, a minister in erstwhile Hooda government, demanded a thorough inquiry against three DCPs and the members of the SIT who made the “poor conductor” a scapegoat. “Why did the SIT not quiz the 16-year-old student as he was the one who informed gardener Harpal Singh about the incident. The role of police officials should also be investigated by higher agency such as CBI,” he said. Haryana congress president Ashok Tanwar said it was an overall “failure” of the Khattar government. The Gurugram Police arrested Ashok in hurry and even Khattar congratulated the team for cracking case the same day. Khattar defends Haryana Police  With the CBI findings coming as an embarassment to the Haryana Police, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday sought to defend them saying the state’s investigators were yet to complete their probe. “Haryana police had not completed its investigation. When investigations were on, a demand was raised that the matter be handed over to the CBI. It was handed over to them. CBI is now conducting investigations. It is their job, not ours. Where CBI investigation leads to, ultimately what results are there…,” he said. Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar defends Gurugram Police Khirwar on Thursday defended Gurugram Police during a press conference in which he faced tough and often angry questions from reporters over the case. “The case was taken over by the CBI before we concluded our investigation and came on final decision. We had arrested Ashok on the basis factual evidence,” Khirwar said. Khairwar had declared in a press meet on 10 September that Ashok was the killer and that he had tried to sexually assault Pradyuman. With inputs from agencies