Ryan owners granted pre-arrest bail: In probe, no pointer to involvement of the Pintos, says Punjab & Haryana HC

The court extended the bail of the petitioners till the presentation of challan in the case. Express

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in its judgment on the anticipatory bail plea filed by the owners of the Ryan Group of Institutions, has said that some lapse or negligence on part of the Bhondsi school authorities or the trustees in the Pradyuman murder case “may not be a pointer towards their complicity in commission of (the) murder”. The CBI submitted in court that there is a “possibility” of them (the Pintos) being “member to the conspiracy”, and at this stage the investigating agency was only concentrating on the main accused.

The group’s founding chairman Augustine Francis Pinto, managing director Grace Pinto and CEO Ryan Pinto were granted pre-arrest bail by the High Court on Tuesday. Class II student Pradyuman Thakur was found with his throat slit inside a washroom at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, on September 8. Police had registered an FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) and Section 25 of the Arms Act. After the CBI took over the investigation and apprehended a Class XI student for the murder, Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act and Section 12 of the POCSO Act were added to the FIR.

“The question, which arises for consideration at this stage is: whether the CBI intends to arrest the petitioners without any evidence of their complicity in the crime only on the basis of possibilities and probabilities. The answer to this question will be in the negative. It is not disputed that in the investigation conducted so far, there is not even a pointer to the involvement of the petitioners in the crime,” Justice Surinder Gupta said in the judgment, which was made public on Wednesday.

Observing that the CBI is yet to examine the role of Pintos in the case and that they have not even been called to join the investigation yet, the court said, “It has not come on record that this crime was committed by the conductor, who was arrested by the police on the day of occurrence or the student arrested by the CBI in this case in conspiracy with the petitioners (Pintos) or he had any contact with them.”

Stating that Augustine and Grace are trustees of Saint Xavier’s Education Trust, which is running several schools in the country, the bench maintained that the investigating agency is yet to ascertain Ryan’s status or position with regard to the Bhondsi school management.

“It will also be a point of investigation for the investigating agency as to whether the petitioners, while living in Mumbai, are directly responsible for any lapse in the administration of the school,” the court said, while extending the anticipatory bail of the petitioners till the presentation of challan in the case.