Ryan School murder case: Gurugram court to today pronounce order on bail petition of accused bus conductor Ashok

Ryan School murder case: Accused bus conductor Ashok Kumar (Express file photo)

A Gurugram court will today pronounce its order on the bail application of bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who was arrested by the Gurugram Police for the murder of Pradyuman Thakur, a Class II student of the Ryan International School student, Bhondsi branch. The court had yesterday reserved its order for today.

Confirming the development, Sushil Tekriwal, counsel for Pradyuman’s father Varun Thakur, said yesterday: “The court on Monday withheld the verdict. It will be pronounced at 3 pm tomorrow (Tuesday). On Monday, arguments took place on several grounds, including jurisdiction, since this is the first case wherein multiple concurrent jurisdictions run parallel. Hence, there are conflicts of statutes and notifications in some places. These legal technicalities and logic were discussed.

Claiming that only the special CBI court in Panchkula can hear the plea since the matter is now being probed by the central agency, Tekriwal had, during a previous hearing, contested the validity of the plea in a district court. Sources said that during the course of the two hearings, the DNA report, blood sample report as well as electronic evidence, documents and confessional statements were placed before the court for consideration.

Elaborating on the proceedings, Mohit Verma, the lawyer representing Kumar, said, “The judge also asked for some clarifications in the statements taken by both agencies — Gurgaon Police and the CBI. Although the parties whose statements have been taken are the same, there are some glaring discrepancies in the content.

Ashok Kumar was arrested on September 8, the same day the seven-year-old Pradyuman was found dead with his throat slit inside the school’s bathroom.  However, on November 8,  in a shocking development, the CBI arrested a Class XI student of the same school in connection with the case and claimed the juvenile to be the accused.

On arresting Kumar, the state police had accused him of trying to sodomise the victim, and killing him when he tried to raise an alarm. “The conductor has confessed to his involvement in the crime,” Birem Singh, ACP, Sohna Road had said
The victim’s father had on November 15 moved the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) requesting the 16-year-old accused be treated as an adult during the trial.

According to the CBI’s investigation, the juvenile committed the murder in a bid to postpone the school’s scheduled examinations and parent-teacher meetings.

In his application, Thakur said the crime was “heinous, barbarous, diabolical, cold-blooded and rarest in nature”, adding that “the present crime is chilling, horrific, monstrous and serious in nature”.