The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing till Thursday in the anticipatory bail plea filed by Ryan International School trustees in a case involving the murder of a seven-year-old boy at their Gurugram branch.
Ryan International Group's founding chairman Augustine Pinto (73) and his wife Grace Pinto were granted interim protection from arrest for a day on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, the father of the boy murdered at the Ryan International School approached the Bombay High Court seeking to oppose the pre-arrest bail pleas of the trustees of Ryan International Group.
The Pinto family have moved the court fearing arrest after the murder of 7-year-old Pradyuman Thakur in Ryan International School's Gurugram campus. Pradyuman was found with his neck slit in the washroom of the school Friday last. The crime was allegedly committed by Ashok Kumar, a bus conductor of the school. Two top officials of the Ryan International School were earlier arrested while the acting principal was detained for questioning in connection with the murder of the boy.
AS IT HAPPENED:
# Ryan International Group's northern zone head Francis Thomas sent to police remand till September 16, HR head sent to judicial custody till September 18.
# Transit anticipatory bail applications of AF Pinto, Grace Pinto and Ryan Pinto adjourned till Thursday.
# Ryan International Group's northern zone head Francis Thomas and branch coordinator produced in Sohna court.
# Pradyuman Thakur's father files intervention plea in Bombay HC to oppose anticipatory bails to Ryan School trustees
# Transit anticipatory bail applications of Augustine Pinto, Grace Pinto and Ryan Pinto to be heard at 3 PM in Bombay High Court
# SC agrees to hear on Monday plea of Francis Thomas alleging that bar has restrained lawyers from representing accused
# Ryan Group's northern zone head Francis Thomas requests SC to transfer the case out of Haryana
# DNA samples of accused bus-conductor Ashok sent to Karnal Lab for testing
SIT visits school, tries to recreate crime sequence
The special investigation team (SIT) of the Gurgaon Police, which is probing the killing, on Tuesday took accused bus conductor Ashok Kumar to the spot and tried to recreate the sequence of crime.
Kumar was later produced before a Sohna court, from where he was sent to judicial custody till September 17
The 14 SIT teams reached the school in Bhondsi and collected evidence, with the help of experts from state forensic lab, from the washroom where the Class 2 student was found murdered with his throat slit.
"The team visited the spot at around 9:30 am and probed till 1:30 pm. During the five-hour-long probe, the SIT photographed all the crime scene, collected samples for forensic analysis and finger prints also and tried to scientifically analyse all possible angles of crime,” a senior police officer told PTI.
The SIT team questioned the school staff, including the sweeper who allegedly cleaned the blood stains from the floor, and the teachers, he said, adding that it also looked for evidence on the ground near broken windows of the toilet and the school's broken boundary wall.
"The team examined the crime scene for nearly one hour with Ashok Kumar and at the suspected places to recreate the sequence of crime to clarify any fact and evidence to include them to make the charge sheet strong," the officer added.
"Although we are questioning teachers and officials from school management, we will seek judicial custody of any suspected person if we want them for questioning. We are probing the case with different angles too simultaneously," Gurgaon Police Commissioner, Sandeep Khirwar said.
Autopsy report rules out sexual assault
The post-mortem report of the victim which came on Tuesday ruled out sexual assault on the child.
Senior forensic expert Dr Deepak Mathur, who carried out the post-mortem of Pradyuman’s body, told India TV that there no physical injury marks on the boy’s body except the two cut marks on the neck. The boy died of excessive bleeding, the doctor said.
Dr Mathur said a nerve was slashed due to which Pradyuman could not cry for help when he was attacked.
"The second point that came out in the report is that the child died due to excessive bleeding. There was no sexual assault on the minor and no semen marks were found on his school dress," he said.
What witnesses say
Meanwhile, police recorded statements of two students in connection with the murder of their schoolmate.
"The SIT recorded statements of two students who went to change their Taekwondo dress inside the toilet at the time of the crime. The team is also questioning the suspended school principal Neerja Batra and two other female teachers," a senior police officer said.
As police are working to crack the case, Subhash Garg, a businessman, claimed the conductor carried the injured boy to a car to be shifted to a hospital on the orders of two teachers.
Garg said he had gone to deposit his son's fees on Friday and was standing at the main reception in the school when he heard some commotion.
"I saw two female teachers and two students were following an injured student who was being carried by Ashok Kumar. One of the teachers was weeping at that moment. She ordered Kumar to place him at the rear seat of the car," Garg told PTI.
"There were also blood stains spread all over the place in a small toilet at the ground floor of the school building.
“There were blood stains on Kumar's shirt which may be due to the fact that he was carrying the boy," he claimed.
He further claimed that Kumar was behaving normally which is a rare thing for someone who has committed a crime, adding he recorded the 1.14 minute video.
WCD, HRD ministers to hold meet on safety protocol in schools
Union ministers Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar will today hold a high-level meeting to develop a protocol for educational institutions to ensure safety of students following incidents of child sexual abuse in schools, a government official said.
Officials of the ministries of women and child development and human resource development as well as representative of the National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), CBSE, NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan will be a part of this meeting.
The two ministries will develop a set of guidelines and protocols for schools to ensure that children are "protected from any kind of abuse or physical and mental harm", a WCD spokesperson said.
