CBI unlikely to oppose bail of Ryan conductor
NEW DELHI/GURGAON: The CBI is unlikely to oppose bail for bus conductor Ashok Kumar who was arrested by Gurgaon police on charges of murdering eightyear-old Pradhyumn Thakur, a Class 2 student of Ryan International School, Bhondsi.
CBI sources said though they have not yet given a formal clean chit to the bus conductor, it is also a fact that they have arrested a juvenile suspect on the charges of murdering Pradhyumn.
“The CBI will submit to the court all the facts that have come up in the investigation so far. However, since investigation is yet to be completed, the agency may like to leave it to the court the final decision of granting bail to Kumar,” a CBI official said on the condition of anonymity.
Sources didn’t rule out the possibility of Kumar becoming a witness in the case as he, the juvenile suspect and the victim were in the school washroom at the same time. Investigation, though, revealed that Kumar was the first one to leave the toilet and the juvenile suspect left after him.
Kumar, 42, was arrested by Gurgaon police hours after Pradhyumn Thakur’s body was recovered in the school washroom on September 8. The police alleged Kumar slit the child’s throat and tried to sexually abuse him inside the washroom.
But Pradhyumn’s family accused Gurgaon police of shielding the real culprits in the case. The family demanded transfer of the case to the CBI, which the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana promptly agreed.
Barun Thakur, the father of the victim said, “Since the beginning, I did not believe in the Gurgaon police theory and that was the reason we were demanding a CBI inquiry. We were not convinced with the motive with which bus conductor Ashok Kumar had confessed. We are convinced with the CBI investigations and we are sure, they must have established the sequences and pieces of evidence before disclosing the arrest of the student”.
The CBI also ruled out sexual assault in the case. Kumar’s lawyer moved the bail application on November 11 when the threeday custodial interrogation of the juvenile accused ended.
Though he allegedly admitted his involvement in the crime before CBI officials, the accused has now retracted his statement before a Juvenile Justice Boardappointed legal-cum-probation officer who recorded his statement in a Faridabad observation home.
The retraction of the family members of the juvenile accused has again led to anxiousness among the family members of Ashok Kumar, who is now in judicial custody in nearby Bhondsi jail.
“I don’t know who has murdered Pradhyumn Thakur, but it’s not my husband. This is crystal clear that my husband is not a killer and even if the student has retracted from his statement, the CBI officials have given clean chit to my husband. The CBI did not find any connection of the murder with my husband and I am waiting for him to return home on Thursday,” said Mamta, wife of Ashok Kumar.
CHILD SAFETY DRIVE
Parents of Pradhyumn Thakur launched a safety campaign for children in schools on the occasion of Children’s Day on Tuesday. The campaign was launched with a symposium through a trust named after the child. Speakers spoke about the need for more safeguards within school premises.
Some highlighted the role of parents and society at large that can push children towards heinous crimes, considering how the current suspect in the case is also a student of the school.
The 60-odd attendees took a symbolic march out on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg for about 100 feet to show their solidarity with Pradhyumn, before the event commenced.