Ryan school murder: Accused teen recreates crime scene for police, father alleges CBI torturing son

The father of the teenage suspect in the Ryan International murder case accused the Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday of torturing his son for a fake confession, shortly after a special children’s court sent the boy to a remand home in Faridabad till November 22.

“My son was tortured, beaten, hung upside down and his head submerged into water by CBI investigators to obtain a confession,” he told reporters after the judge allowed him to speak to his son for 10 minutes after the hearing.

The boy was arrested on Wednesday, months after the murder of 8-year-old Pradyuman Thakur who was found bleeding to death from a cut in his throat outside a school toilet on September 8. Haryana police initially named a bus conductor as the main suspect, but federal investigators said on Wednesday the crime was committed by a school senior who wanted examinations postponed.

On Saturday, lawyers of the suspect juvenile’s family moved an application in the special court seeking action against the investigators for violating orders that the questioning should be restricted to between 10am and 6pm.

“It is also seriously apprehended that CBI/IO are making crude paddings/creating false evidence in order to falsely implicate the juvenile and justify their action of arresting,” the family’s application said.

A CBI spokesperson denied the allegations of coercion. The agency’s lawyer told the juvenile justice board that it no longer needed the boy’s custody.

The boy reached the observation home in Faridabad around 7:20pm. Officials there said that he will be treated as per protocol and in the same manner as the other 80 inmates.

But sources have flagged concerns regarding the observation home, which has a capacity to take in only 25 minors. Last year, five boys fled the facility after reportedly attacking a guard.

Earlier in the day, CBI investigators took the boy to the school and are said to have recreated the sequence of events. The agency also took the boy to a shop in Sohna where he allegedly purchased the knife was used in the murder.

“We have cooperated with the agency and took our son for questioning four times during which they did not tell us anything. On September 24, the agency conducted a search of his room and took away his laptop, mobile phone, school bags, clothes and other items for verification. There was no blood on his clothes, no one saw him committing anything wrong. My son is being framed by the agency,” the father outside the court.

(With inputs from Prabhu Razdan in Faridabad)