YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CRYPTIC
morning of September 8. The same day, Gurgaon police arrested bus conductor Ashok Kumar but failed to satisfy the victim’s family or establish a motive, leading to the probe being given to the CBI.
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.
The police, however, denied all allegations of a lapse in the probe and said any missing link in the case was probably because the investigation was abruptly transferred to the CBI. “The case was transferred otherwise our investigation could have gone in that direction as well,” said Haryana director general of police BS Sandhu.
Ashok Bakshi, deputy commissioner of police (South Gurgaon) who headed the SIT, said they had received no official communication from the CBI. “The investigation was conducted by us and handed over to the agency and they are now working on it,” he said.
Some officials of Gurgaon police admitted that the police could have made a mistake due to public pressure. “The police have lesser resources, less time and a lot of pressure to deliver results which can lead to such situation,” said a Gurgaon police official dealing with the case.
Legal experts indicated that the police’s eagerness to close the case coupled with public and media glare forced the SIT to make hasty conclusions.
“What was the need to commit that the chargesheet will be filed within a week? From day one, the police fixed responsibility on a single person who was also the most vulnerable,” said Gurgaonbased lawyer Rajiv Kaushik.
Another weak link of the investigation was the motive for the murder, added the experts.
“It is important to establish the motive in a heinous crime like this and this was always in doubt. None had the answer why Ashok will kill a boy in a public toilet, inside the school when he had no such history,” said a public prosecutor, who did not want to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
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.