Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

CBI grills Ryan teachers for 3 hrs

Investigat­ors trying to identify 4 students seen in CCTV footage, say Ryan teachers

- Leena Dhankhar leena.dhankhar@hindustant­imes.com

The Central Bureau of Investigat­ion (CBI) team probing the murder of a Class 2 student of Ryan Internatio­nal School Bhondsi on Friday repeatedly questioned three teachers who were among the first ones seen rushing to the crime spot.

The prime objective of the CBI interrogat­ion appears to be the identifica­tion of four senior students who were seen in CCTV footage near the murder location, said teachers who were probed by the CBI on Friday for three hours.

The CBI officials are reportedly suspecting that the four students seen in the CCTV footage may have heard or seen something which may prove to be a vital clue in the case, another one of the teachers said.

The CBI team on Friday repeatedly interrogat­ed the three teachers in particular who were among the first ones seen rushing to the crime spot in the CCTV footage, one of the teachers said.

Around 20 teachers who teach Classes 9 to 12 had been asked by the CBI team to stay back after school till 5:15pm on Friday. The teachers were then taken to the school conference room where they were shown around 17 minutes of CCTV footage from the day of the incident (September 8) which captured the victim walking towards the toilet where he was murdered.

The teachers said that in the footage, the seven-year-old victim was seen following his elder sister before turning towards the toilet where the incident took place. The four senior students, who the investigat­ion team is trying to identify, were seen walking behind the victim.

It is possible that the four students may have heard the cries of the victim when he tried to raise an alarm, one of the teachers said.

“We were made to sit in one room and the three officials from the CBI interacted with us. They were repeatedly showing us the CCTV footage of the corridor where the victim enters the school walking behind his elder sister and then turns towards the toilet. Approximat­ely 17 minutes of the footage was shown,” said one of the teachers.

The teacher added that the murder appears to have taken place in the three minutes that the Class 2 student was not visible in the CCTV footage.

One of the teachers said that in the portion of the footage shown to them, the accused Ashok was not visible, and it appears that he may have already entered the toiThe let by then.

“The CBI officials did not show us the entire CCTV footage. We did not see Ashok even once in the video. Four senior class boys are seen walking in the corridor behind the victim, but they appear immersed in themselves talking and laughing. Only their backs were visible, so the teachers are finding it difficult to identify these four boys,” the teacher said.

teachers added that the officials were looking other angles to the murder as well. “The CBI team appeared quite calm and did not lose their cool even after none of us were able identify the four students,” one of the teachers said.

“We found it strange how we were never shown the entire CCTV footage. We wanted to see the entry and exit of the accused, but no one dared to ask the CBI team. All teachers seemed tense as the identifica­tion of the four students appeared most important to the CBI team, but the four senior boys were not clearly visible in the footage,” said another teacher. The teachers said they expected the CBI officials to soon unfold something which Gurgaon police has missed upon.

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE FOUR STUDENTS MAY HAVE HEARD THE CRIES OF THE VICTIM WHEN HE TRIED TO RAISE AN ALARM, A TEACHER SAID

 ?? SANJEEV VERMA/HT PHOTO ?? CBI questioned three teachers who were among the first ones at the crime spot.
SANJEEV VERMA/HT PHOTO CBI questioned three teachers who were among the first ones at the crime spot.

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