Ryan murder case: CBI gets one day custody of main accused

In a major development, a local court granted one day CBI custody to the main accused Ashok Kumar in the Pradyuman murder case while two other accused Francis Thomas and Jeyus Thomas have been sent to CBI remand till September 25.

"On request, the competent court has remanded three accused to CBI custody, who were arrested by the Haryana Police," said CBI officials.

Sources in investigative agency added that the custodial interrogation is very crucial in this case to find out the truth.

A team has been constituted under Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ajay Kumar Bassi, CBI, to investigate the case. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case of murder under 302 (murder) of the IPC, 25 of the Arms Act, 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act read with section 34 of IPC.

CBI TEAM VISITS SCHOOL

Meanwhile, a day after the CBI took over the investigation in the murder case of 7-year-old Pradyuman Thakur, a team of 12 CBI officers reached Ryan International School on Saturday morning and spent entire day inside the school.

Sources in the investigative agency have told India Today that the team comprising of forensic experts collected some more evidence from the crime scene which are going to be crucial in the investigation of the case.

Pradyuman, a student of Class second, was brutally murdered inside the school's bathroom on September 8. CBI took over the over the probe on Friday after request by the Haryana government.

WHAT CBI IS LOOKING FOR?

Haryana Police alleged that the Ashok Kumar, 42-year-old bus conductor killed Pradyuman with knife after the 7-year-old resisted an attempt of sexual assault. However, the postmortem report ruled out any sexual attempt by the accused on the deceased.

Pradyuman's father, Varun Chand Thakur, suspects police's theory and believes that there is more to it. He suspects that the school administration was trying to manipulate evidence and destroy clues.

According to top sources in the investigative agency, CBI wants to know the circumstances under which Pradyuman was killed. CBI also wants to confirm the theory of Haryana Police that Ashok killed Pradyuman due to failed sexual assault attempt on the deceased.

CCTV FOOTAGE TO BE RE-EXAMINED

CBI will re-examine all the CCTV footage recovered from the Ryan International School to find more clue in the case. One of the CCTV camera recorded the movement of Pradyuman and Ashok on the day of incident.

SECURITY LAPSES IN SCHOOL

A three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed to find out security arrangement by the school for the students, has pointed out severe security lapses in the daily management and functioning of the school in its report.