Silence at house of new suspect

GURGAON: 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 suspect’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 also maintained that they has fully cooperated with the CBI in the investigation, and his son would also come out be innocent.

In solidarity with him, other lawyers were also present in the court.

“We are here as mark of solidarity with our lawyer friend. We are not here to cause any hindrance in CBI investigation,” said Sudesh Yadav, president of the bar association.

Relatives of the accused said the boy is being framed in the case. “The accused is a good student. He scored 80% in 10th exams. He is studying in Ryan for past eight years. We got a call from the CBI on Tuesday for investigation and early on Wednesday morning he was arrested. We are shocked. He is being framed by the agency,” said a cousin of the accused.

The neighbours of the family were equally shocked by the development and said the boy had never shown any signs of being abnormal.

“The boy plays with other children and he never showed any aggression or negative emotion that could signal that he was capable of such a crime. He was also good in studies and it would be naive to say that he murdered to get a meeting postponed,” said a neighbour, on condition of anonymity.

At the school, the scene was tense as parents were shocked to know of the involvement of a school student in the murder.

“I am very surprised and shocked to know that the murder was committed by a school student. I hope the CBI has found the culprit on the basis of hard evidence,” said Sunil Raghav, a social activist from Bhondsi.

One of the parents also said that this matter could be related to the Blue Whale game and if the matter was investigated deeply, more startling information could be revealed.