The murder case of seven-year-old Ryan International School student Pradyuman Thakur is getting murkier by the day. A class 11 student, accused of murdering Pradyuman inside the school toilet, retracted his confession on Monday, according to a national daily report.
A juvenile court in Gurgaon had sent the accused, who was arrested by the CBI on November 8, to an observational home in Faridabad until November 22. In a fresh turn of events, the juvenile reportedly told a team of investigating officials and a legal probe team from the district child protection unit that he was beaten up by investigating officers and forced to confess. Earlier, the accused's father, too, had told mediapersons that his son was innocent and forced to confess.
Last week, the CBI probe revealed that the juvenile had googled for various types of poisons before carrying out the crime. When the investigation team scrolled through the browsing history of the accused on his laptop and mobile phone, they saw that he had also searched for ways to remove fingerprints from murder weapons. Reports revealed that the accused knew Pradyuman as they used to attend piano classes together.
According to sources, the accused had revealed that after reaching school on the day of murder—September 8—he left his school bag in the classroom, and asked Pradyuman to accompany him to the toilet.
The juvenile is said to have murdered Pradyuman in a bid to create a situation to postpone upcoming examinations. The CBI's stunning revelation about the juvenile's role had derailed the Haryana police version of the crime which led to the arrest of a school bus conductor, Ashok Kumar. Pradyuman's family had insisted that the conductor was being framed.
CBI investigation in the murder case also revealed destruction of evidence by Gurgaon police. This has struck up a new controversy, and cops who were part of the Special Investigation Team are being probed for an allegedly deliberate botch-up.
