Gurugram school case: CBI asks court to release bus conductor, says 'no role in murder'

GURUGRAM: The Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) on Monday asked the Gurugram court to discharge the school bus conductor Ashok, who was initially accused of killing seven-year-old Prince in a school here.

The CBI filed a 1000-page, 29-volume chargesheet where it said, "no role of Ashok found".

In the chargesheet, the CBI has also found that the juvenile, who was later accused of the murder, was searching 'how to remove bloodstains'. This indicated that it is he who planned the murder and also destroy the evidence.

The fingerprint of the juvenile has matched with that of the one at the crime scene and the murder weapon has also been identified.

Earlier in the day, the court dismissed the bail plea of the juvenile. Earlier in January, his bail plea was rejected following the hearing of arguments of the counsel for the accused.

In December last year, the court had rejected his bail after the Central Bureau of Investigation had said that the probe is underway and they were interrogating the teenager to find the details of the murder.

During the hearing in January, the defence counsel had claimed that the chargesheet in the matter was not filed within one month, as prescribed in the Juvenile Justice Act, and he was not given required documents.

However, the CBI refuted the claims stating that the mandatory period for filing a charge sheet is 90 days under CrPC provisions since the accused has been declared an adult by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

The CBI had claimed the teenager had killed Prince in a bid to get the school closed so that a parent-teacher meeting and an examination could be deferred.

On December 20, the JJB had held that the teenager would be tried as an adult and noted that the accused was mature enough to recognise the consequences of his actions.

If convicted, the accused will stay in a correctional home till he is 21 years old after which the court can shift him to a jail or grant him bail.

The 16-year-old student of  Vidyalaya in Gurugram has been accused of killing 7-year-old Prince, was found with his throat slit in the school's washroom on September 8, 2017.

The Gurgaon Police had initially claimed that the crime was committed by a school bus conductor, which was later refuted by the CBI.