Ryan school murder case: CBI says juvenile got knife to school, weapon found in toilet days after murder

Ryan International School in Gurgaon. According to the CBI, the teenager purchased the knife from the local market. However, during its probe, the Gurgaon police had produced another knife on the basis of which they arrested the bus conductor, Ashok Kumar, for the murder. (File photo)

Two days after it apprehended a Class XI student in connection with the murder of seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur at Gurgaon’s Ryan International School, the CBI clarified that there is only one murder weapon — a knife recovered by forensic experts a few days after the murder from the commode of the toilet. According to the CBI, the teenager purchased the knife from the local market. However, during its probe, the Gurgaon police had produced another knife on the basis of which they arrested the bus conductor, Ashok Kumar, for the murder.

Police had said the “murder weapon” actually belonged to a bus driver. Kumar wanted to take the knife home to his wife. As it was dirty, police had said he took it to the school toilet to clean it. That is where he saw Pradyuman and tried to sexually assault him, killing him when the boy tried to raise an alarm, police had claimed. “We do not know what knife Gurgaon Police showed to the media… The knife we have was recovered from the commode at the scene of crime and was bought by the accused apprehended by us,” a senior CBI officer said.

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On Thursday, the agency also took the teenager to a few places to reconstruct the crime scene. CBI sources said the boy was questioned within the time limit set by the court, and that it would continue on Friday as well. While seeking the boy’s remand from the Juvenile Justice Board on Wednesday, the agency had said it wanted to “ascertain the details and identify the shop from where the murder weapon was procured by him”. The presiding officer then directed that the CBI question him for three days between 10 am and 6 pm. The boy is currently at an observation home in Delhi. CBI sources also clarified that they have not recorded the boy’s statement under Section 164 of the CrPC — a confessional statement before a magistrate.

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While the father claimed his son’s statement had been recorded under the section by police, sources said it was done when the case was with Gurgaon Police and the boy was a witness. The boy was picked up from his home on Tuesday night, CBI sources said, adding that he killed Pradyuman as he wanted to get exams and a parent-teacher meeting postponed. It claimed it zeroed in on the boy based on CCTV footage, call data records and forensic and scientific evidence. It has, however, not specified what the evidence is. The CBI also gave a clean chit to the conductor, saying it found no evidence against him.

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