Ryan school murder: Victim's family wants accused tried as adult, CBI probe punches holes in Gurugram Police narrative

A Class 11 Ryan International student has emerged as the prime accused in the murder of a Class 2 student.

The 16-year-old has been remanded to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody for three days, with the court issuing special guidelines in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act.

On Tuesday, the CBI revealed that the student has reportedly confessed to his crime.

CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said the student was detained on Tuesday night after “inspection of the crime spot, scrutiny of CCTV footage, call records, statements and questioning of several people” revealed that he had carried a knife inside school campus on the day of the crime and used it to kill the seven-year-old.

Dayal said the accused was a poor student and “wanted to have examination and parent-teacher meeting postponed ”.

The CBI sought a six-day remand from the court, which was declined.

As part of restrictions under the Juvenile Justice Act, the court directed the agency to interrogate the minor only between 10 am and 6 pm, adding that the child’s parents and a social worker must accompany him.

The Class 2 student was found dead with his throat slit by a sharp-edged weapon on the morning of 8 September in a school toilet.

How did the CBI zero in on the accused?

Sources in the agency said the crime was committed in just three to four minutes.

According to CNN-News18, the CBI interrogated the teenager on four separate occasions, as he first reported the crime.

However, his version of events kept changing, even as he maintained that he had nothing to do with the murder.

The agency was able to piece together elements of the crime by analysing CCTV footage, scientific and forensic examination, analysis of the crime scene and by questioning students, teachers and staff of the school. The agency reportedly questioned over 125 students and teachers.

The CBI also examined a crucial piece of CCTV footage, which it was said was ignored in the previous investigation. The footage showed the movement of people in and out of the toilet, on the basis of which it narrowed the list of suspects.

CBI sources told CNN-News 18 that the accused was seen leaving the toilet just three minutes after the boy entered the toilet. He was also the first person to leave the scene of the crime according to the footage, the TV channel reported.

The probe agency found evidence which revealed that the teenager did not take the normal route to his classroom after the incident and he did not meet any staff or teachers until 30 minutes after the crime, after which he alerted the gardener. The CBI concluded that the accused’s conduct was “abnormal”.

Then, the mobile records of all suspects were scrutinised and examined by the CBI’s special crime team, which revealed that although the Class 11 student had planned a killing on 8 September, he had not identified his target. It was a coincidence that the child had reached the toilet and became a victim of senior student’s ghastly plan, sources added.

The CBI also found no evidence against the school bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was the prime accused according to the Gurugram Police.

CBI findings raise questions on Gurugram Police’s investigation

The CBI’s findings will raise questions about the investigation conducted by the Gurugram Police, which blamed Ashok and alleged he was waiting in the toilet with a knife. The police had formed 14 Special Investigation Teams and was operating under intense media scrutiny.

The police said Ashok tried to sodomise the child and later killed him when he tried to raise an alarm. The police promoted this theory despite the fact that the postmortem report found no evidence of sexual assault. The police arrested Ashok hours after the murder and he reportedly confessed at a press briefing. However, the victim’s family remained  unconvinced .

Ashok too, later retracted his statement and said that he confessed under duress. The CBI has not absolved him completely and said it will analyse whether he played a role in destroying evidence.

Questions are being raised over why the police ignored the CCTV footage and why it did not question the staff and other students about the conduct of the accused. Two other  staff claimed that Ashok was being made a scapegoat.

Accused’s parents say CBI framing their son

The father of the accused told TV channels that his son was innocent and they had been cooperating with the police from day one. He claimed that his son’s robes did not have any blood stains and he stayed at the school until much after the incident. “How come there were no splashes of blood on his uniform?” his father asked.

“My son didn’t do anything. He informed the gardener and teachers after finding the boy’s body. He stayed in the school the entire day, and appeared for the exam. There was not even a single spot of blood on my son’s clothes,” the accused’s father said.

He added that Tuesday was the fourth time his son was questioned. “I reached around 11 am… I left at 2 am and CCTV footage can be seen for that,” he said.

He also claimed that the CBI is framing the child, alleging that he and his wife were not allowed to meet him.

The CBI on the other hand claimed the parents of the detained student were kept informed throughout the investigation, and all guidelines of the juvenile law were followed.

The CBI took over the case on 22 September from Haryana Police, nearly two weeks after the murder came to light.

The accused will now be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, where the court is expected to decide whether he is to be treated as a major or a minor as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

‘Want accused tried as adult’

The family of the victim expressed satisfaction at the way the probe was progressing and demanded that the accused be tried as an adult. They also expressed suspicion about the involvement of school authorities in “destruction of evidence” and sought that the questioning of top management by the CBI.

The family accused the police of botching the investigation and said the CBI meticulously collected circumstantial evidences and facts. They also alleged a larger conspiracy behind the murder and said that they want the CBI to file a charge sheet soon.

“There is a deep-rooted conspiracy that has been hatched on the part of various people including the student who has been apprehended. The legal battle is going to be long but we are waiting for the CBI to file the charge sheet in a time-bound manner,” his father said.

He also demanded that all others involved in the conspiracy be brought to book. “All those whose negligence led to my son’s murder should also be questioned. They should be given strict punishment so that it sends out a positive message that no one can go scot-free after committing such a heinous crime,” he said, as his lawyer added that the the agency had yet not given a clean chit to the Pinto family: The trustees of Ryan International Group.

Ryan Pinto, the owner of the school is yet to be questioned in the case.

The parents also demanded death penalty for all those who had a hand in the murder.

With inputs from agencies