The brutal killing of seven-year-old Pradyuman inside a toilet of Ryan International School in Gurugram remains a mystery even after four days of the gruesome incident.
The post-mortem report which came on Tuesday ruled out sexual assault on the child, making the case more complex, as it is contrary to the investigation theory which stated that the child was raped before being hacked to death.
Senior forensic expert 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.
On the other hand, the Bombay High Court granted Ryan International Group’s founding chairman Augustine Pinto (73) and his wife Grace Pinto (62), the managing director, interim protection from arrest till tomorrow.
In another development, group CEO Ryan Pinto filed anticipatory bail application in the high court this evening.
Meanwhile, a special court today sent Ashok Kumar, the accused bus conductor, to judicial custody till September 18.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre and the Haryana government after Varun Thakur filed an appeal seeking a CBI probe into his son's murder and safety guidelines for children in schools.
Two officials of the Ryan International School have been arrested after an investigation pointed at serious security lapses at the school.
Varun Thakur, father of Pradyuman, today thanked the top court for taking up his plea promptly and exuded confidence that justice will be delivered following its intervention.
Speaking to India TV, Varun reiterated his demand that the CBI probe must be ordered to bring all hidden facts to fore.
Thakur said there were "too many loopholes" in the police theory and the school management's stand on the murder.
"That is why we have moved the Supreme Court for a CBI inquiry," Thakur said.
Raising questions on police investigation, he said, “How can this gruesome killing take place just in 25 minutes, there must be a past history… police investigation is okay, what we demand is a CBI probe to unmask all hidden facts.”
“Why was that conductor inside the bathroom, what he was doing there? The intention behind the attack was to ensure he (Pradyuman) is no more… very suspicious… this is why we had approached the Supreme Court and sought court monitored probe by the CBI.”
Thakur’s questions fall in line with the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) report which not only pointed out serious security lapses in the school, but also claimed that evidence from the crime scene had been tampered with. It also suspects the involvement of a third person, who may have escaped from one of the windows of the toilet which is broken.
Meanwhile, Subhash Garg, father of another student of the same school, said he was present in the campus when the body was found.
Garg said he rushed along with others to the crime spot after hearing the screams of the staff and students. He said that the accused bus conductor Ashok carried the child to a vehicle to be shifted to a private hospital.
He also said that he asked the school staff not to clean the blood from the spot till police arrives, but the sweeper wiped the blood nevertheless.
On the other hand, bus driver Saurabh Raghav said the knife used in the killing was not kept in the bus tool box, as claimed by accused conductor Ashok Kumar, adding that police pressurised him also to admit to being an accomplice in the crime.
Questions have been raised over police investigation as many believe that Ashok has been made a scapegoat and the man's family too claimed he was falsely implicated since he was poor.
