Two months after a seven-year-old boy was found murdered in the toilet of Ryan International School in Gurugram, the CBI has now detained a Class 11 student of the same school in connection with the crime.
Media reports suggest that the Class 11 student was detained late on Tuesday night after CCTV footage showed that he had entered the toilet with Pradyuman Thakur.
The student has also reportedly confessed to the crime, claimed the CBI, and will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Court.
However, the father of the boy claims that the CBI has forced a confession from his son and that it was his son who had informed an adult in the school of Pradyuman's death.
On September 8, Pradyuman Thakur, a Class 2 student of Ryan International School was found murdered and lying in a pool of blood in the school toilet. His throats was found slit and a knife, reportedly the murder weapon, was found next to him.
Days after the crime, the Gurugram police had picked up Ashok Kumar, a bus conductor. The police had then claimed that Ashok had confessed to the killing after attempting to sexual assault the boy.
Just a week after the murder, however, the case was transferred to the CBI following sustained pressure by Pradyuman's family.
Reports have now emerged that Ashok Kumar was allegedly tortured by the police to make a confession, accepting that he'd committed the murder. Further, it is now being alleged that the "murder weapon" recovered by the police from the crime scene had actually been planted by them to incriminate Ashok Kumar. The actual murder weapon was allegedly flushed down the toilet by the Class 11 student who has now been arrested by the CBI.
The actual motive for the crime is unclear at this stage, with some reports suggesting that the student had allegedly committed the crime to get the school to postpone the exams. Other reports say that he had attempted to sexually assault the young child.
Reacting to the news, the Haryana DGP said, "We have a suspect, the CBI has a new suspect. Let's see what happens."
The sensational twist to the murder has raised several parallels with another case - the 2008 Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj murders in Noida.
In the Noida case, the Uttar Pradesh police had first suspected Hemraj, the Talwars' domestic worker, who was missing. Two days after the murder, however, the police found Hemraj's body on the terrace of the same apartment building. With the UP police receiving criticism for its investigation, the case was later transferred to the CBI. However, last month, the Allahabad High Court let off the dentist couple who'd been charged by the CBI for murdering their daughter and Hemraj, citing that there was insufficient evidence.
CBI in Arushi Murder Case: Servants killed her (Media- yeah yeah), no outsiders killed (media- yeah yeah), no, her parents did (media- kill them!).
— Samar (@Samar_Anarya) November 8, 2017
In #Pradyuman's: School Bus driver killed him, no- Class 11 student killed.
Who will restore dignity of all those falsely accused?
More delay more will be injustice for #Pradyuman like what happened to Arushi murder case. It remained as mystery.
— Jignesh Patel (@Gujratindian) October 6, 2017
Evidences were tempered.
#arushi केस की तरह #Pradyuman केस में भी #CBI ने राज्य पुलिस की जांच के उलट हत्या का आरोपी #RyanSchool के ग्यारवीं के छात्र को माना है। यानी कंडक्टर-चाकू वाली थ्योरी फेल और अब एक नई थ्योरी के साथ इंसाफ की नई उम्मीद
— Meenakshi Kandwal (@MinakshiKandwal) November 8, 2017