Ryan school murder: Class XI student was CBI's prime suspect since beginning of probe

GURUGRAM: In a setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the owner of a shop from where Ryan International School's Class XI student is suspected to have procured a knife to kill his Class II junior, failed to identify him.

The shop owner was a crucial witness for CBI had he identified the juvenile. 

Now, with the owner failing to identify the murder accused, the CBI is left with no option but to buy seven similar knives that cost Rs 100 to establish its claims. 

The CBI apprehended the Class XI student late on Tuesday, while school bus conductor Ashok Kumar is in jail after being arrested by the Haryana police for killing Pradyuman Thakur on the campus two months ago.

The agency has planned a psychological examination of the student after reconstructing the crime to know how he carried out the murder. 

The CBI is also focusing on a second juvenile student who had raised an alarm about the murder. It suspects that the second student might have accompanied the Class XI student when he committed the crime.

The agency is probing whether school staff and the Haryana police are involved in the destruction of evidence. 

The Haryana police had claimed to have found the weapon used in the crime, a blood-stained knife, from the toolbox of a school bus. The agency, however, rejected the police's claim and said it found the actual knife used in the crime, that was flushed out by the Class XI student after the murder, and was recovered by the agency in the school toilet's commode.

According to CBI sources, within weeks of initial investigation, their prime suspect was the class XI standard student and not the bus conductor.

On Friday, CBI said that there is a possibility of involvement of another person in the case.

On September 8, 7-year-old Pradyuman Thakur had been found with his throat slit outside a school toilet. Pradyuman's family had been claiming that the case was mishandled by the Gurugram police and that the bus conductor Ashok Kumar was arrested in a hurry. 

Meanwhile, the custody of the Class XI students ends on Saturday.