Gurgaon Ryan International School student murder case: 'SIT suspects involvement of a third person'

Gurgaon: The gruesome murder of seven-year-old Pradyuman at Ryan International School has left several unsolved questions before his parents and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Gurgaon Police.

Pradyuman was found dead with his throat slit in the washroom of Ryan International school in Bhondsi area on Sohna Road near here on September 8.

The fact-finding committee has found has detected several lapses in the school, including no police verification of bus drivers, conductors and other staff, and broken boundary wall.

SIT sources told PTI that the investigating team suspects involvement of a third person, who may have escaped from one of the windows of the toilet which has broken window and is located on the ground floor.

According to Pradyuman's father Varun Thakur, he had dropped his son and daughter at the Ryan International School at 7:55 am. Thakur claimed he received a call from the school management at 8.10 am informing him about his son being found bleeding inside the washroom.

Saurabh Raghav, a driver of the school bus in which accused Ashok Kumar worked as conductor, entered the school at the same time where Kumar was helping to de-board the students and helped him to park the bus outside at the parking lot, which often takes five minutes.

The crime took place within 10 minutes, between 8 am and 8.10 am. It would take Pradyuman at least 2-3 minutes to reach the main building straight away covering around 400 meters from the gate, while Kumar would spend at least 5-7 minutes in the bus before heading there, the source said.

Such circumstances, the source added, indicate that the boy entered the toilet first and the possibility of Kumar already being there was less.

Since Pradyuman's school bag was found inside the toilet, it indicates that he went there straight from the gate and was attacked by someone who used those windows as escape route, the source said.

The post-mortem report of seven-year-old Pradyuman has ruled out sexual assault even as the parent of another schoolchild claimed the crime scene was tampered with even though he had cautioned otherwise.

Bus driver Saurabh Raghav has said the knife used in the killing was not kept in the bus tool box, as claimed by accused conductor Ashok Kumar, adding that police pressurised him also to admit to being an accomplice in the crime.

Varun Thakur said there were "too many loopholes" in the police theory and the school management's stand on the murder.

Pradyuman's father has moved the Supreme Court for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the case.