SC asks HC to decide plea for CBI probe

NEWDELHI:The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Allahabad high court to expeditiously decide the plea of a man seeking a CBI probe into the death of his nine-year-old son allegedly under mysterious circumstances in a private school in Ghaziabad.

A bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justice A M Khanwilkar and justice D Y Chandrachud said it would not deal with the plea and asked the father to approach the high court which would decide it by October 15.

Senior advocate P P Malhotra, appearing for the father, said crucial evidence was not being considered during the investigation.

The plea was filed during a recent uproar over the death of a boy in the toilet of Ryan International School in Gurugram. The child was found with his throat slit on September 8.

The matter related to the death of class 4 student Arman Sehgal at G D Goenka Public School at Indirapuram in Ghaziabad district on August 1.

Gulshan Sehgal, father of the victim, has claimed in his plea that a probe by CBI or a special investigation team was required for a “thorough and fair investigation” as the school management has “already destroyed” evidence in the case.

The plea said some members of the school management, including the chairman, director and principal, have moved the Allahabad high court seeking quashing of the FIR and the court had granted them interim protection from arrest and directed that no coercive action should be taken against them.

It has also sought a stay against the interim orders of the high court issued on August 11 and September 6.

“The high court failed to appreciate the fact that the police officials reached the scene of crime almost four hours late and by that time the school authorities had destroyed and tampered with crucial evidence,” the petition, filed through advocate Gurmeet Singh, said.

It also alleged the Uttar Pradesh Police had not probed the case properly, due to which the school authorities had tampered with the scene of crime and removed all evidence.

“The high court failed to appreciate the fact that the expert opinion suggests that the cause of death cannot be from a fall on the corridor and to the contrary, the expert opinion suggests that the injuries caused should be from a fall of at least 20 feet height,” the plea said.

It also alleged that the CCTV footage of the school was not kept according to the rules and certain videos were deleted from the record.

THE PLEA WAS FILED DURING A RECENT UPROAR OVER THE DEATH OF A BOY IN THE TOILET OF RYAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN GURUGRAM.