High court stays Ryan trustees’ arrest

CHANDIGARH: Granting relief to the trustees of the Ryan International school in connection with the murder of a student in its Gurugram school, Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed their arrest till October 7.

The group’s CEO, Ryan Pinto, and his parents, founding chairman Augustine Pinto and managing director Grace Pinto, had approached the high court, seeking anticipatory bail.

The body of seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur was found with throat slit inside a washroom of Ryan International school on September 8 and the murder was earlier being investigated by Haryana police.

The Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) had taken over the murder case last week after the Centre had issued a notification in this regard following the Haryana government’s request.

“We had opposed the grant of interim relief saying that the matter is serious and at a crucial stage of investigation,” said advocate Sumeet Goyal, counsel for the CBI.

Meanwhile, the CBI has been granted time to file reply to the plea seeking anticipatory bail.

Earlier on September 14, the Bombay high court had rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of the three Mumbai-based trustees. The police have already arrested a bus conductor Ashok in connection with the crime.

The trustees Pinto and Grace had sought anticipatory bail saying that they would make themselves available whenever summoned. They contended that the family is involved in broader policy matters of 54 institutions they run across country and the dayto-day functioning of the schools is taken care of by local management officials.