Arrest raises questions over police probe

Undue haste in closing probe and media spotlight may have made cops commit mistakes and overlook key clues, say experts

from the CBI. “The probe was held by us and handed over to the agency and they are now working on it,” he said.

The agency claimed its investigators were still probing charges of destruction of evidence against the school management. But activists based in Gurgaon said the scale of the alleged botch-up raised questions.

“Mistakes do happen but such a major faux pas by the police needs some answering. If Ashok Kumar has been deliberately framed, then it is a heinous crime,” said SK Sharma, an activist whose son also studies at Ryan International School.

Some officials admitted that the police could have made a mistake due to public pressure.

Family members of Ashok Kumar questioned why the police had made the conductor confess in front of a camera. “They beat him so badly that there was no way out for him but accepting the crime,” alleged Ami Chand, Kumar’s father.

TRY CLASS 11 BOY AS ADULT: VICTIM’S KIN

Pradyumn’s father’s lawyer, Sushil Tekriwal, said he would ask juvenile justice board to treat the boy as an adult.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hedge said the accused could be treated as an adult “only if the JJB certifies that this is a crime which fell within the ambit of the amended JJB act”. Set up in all districts of the country, the juvenile justice board deals with children in conflict with law.

EERIE SILENCE AT HOUSE OF SUSPECT

Eerie silence prevailed at the house of the Class 11 student, who has been accused by the CBI of murdering Class 2 student Pradyumn Thakur at Ryan International School, Bhondsi, on September 8. As the news surfaced on Wednesday, the accused’s family was not found at their home in Sohna, 22-km from Gurgaon.

However, the suspect’s father, a lawyer, said in a Gurgaon court on Wednesday that his son was innocent. “My son is innocent. He has been framed,” he said.

He said that they have fully cooperated with the CBI in the investigation and his son would also come out be innocent.