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Namrata Biji Ahuja
Namrata Biji Ahuja

GURUGRAM

Ryan school murder: CBI chargesheets juvenile boy

cbi-pti221217 The CBI says that further investigation is still on pertaining to role of the school and lapses, if any, on the part of the Haryana police | PTI

The bus conductor was given clean chit by the probe agency

It is a shocking case of one juvenile killing the other as the CBI on Monday filed a chargesheet in Gurugram's Ryan International school murder case of an eight-year-old on September 8 last year. The CBI has refused to use the real names of both the accused and the victim in its chargesheet filed in the sessions court. The damning chargesheet nails a class eleven student for the brutal murder of the class two student. The motive remains the same: the juvenile wanted to postpone the school exam and delay the Parent Teachers Meeting. The accused has been called ''Bholu'' by the CBI in its chargesheet and the victim is named as ''Prince''. The name of the school is also not mentioned in the chargesheet filed by the CBI which has called it ''Vidyalaya''. This has been done on the directions of the court since it involves juveniles.

The accused Bholu has been chargesheeted under section 302 of IPC (punishment for murder). The agency has meanwhile dropped sections of POSCO as it gave a clean chit to the bus conductor Ashok, initially accused of the murder by the Gurugram police. The CBI has clearly said that no role of Ashok has been found in its investigation.

The charges against Bholu, however, are no child's play. In fact, it is a well-planned murder as per the CBI's chargesheet which says that in August last year, Bholu went to his friends in class and told them not to prepare for the exams as they won't take place. The CBI says when his friends asked him why the exams are not going to be held, Bholu stated, ''bas aise hi nahi honge (the exams will not take place just like that).'' Bholu again went to them once more and asked them to bring poison and informed them that he wanted to mix it up in water tank to kill some child or someone else so that the blame will go to the school and the school will be closed and PTMs and exams will be cancelled.''

According to the CBI chargesheet, on the fateful day on September 8, Bholu ''lured the deceased on the pretext of taking his help in taking some article from inside the washroom.'' The victim was found murdered in a toilet near his classroom. The CBI says that ''Bholu explained that he did not have any blood stains on his hands as he assaulted Prince from his backside and thereafter threw the knife in the toilet itself and rushed out immediately.'' When he met Harpal Mali outside the toilet he told him that a child is vomiting blood inside and asked him to help the boy, says the chargesheet. Bholu told the CBI that when the exam got over , he came to know that Prince had expired. He came home as usual and got to know that the school was closed and the exams had been cancelled. He also stated that he somehow felt relief, says the CBI in its chargesheet. Bholu also admitted that he searched the internet on how to remove fingerprints from the crime scene. He used his email id to make these searches . It was advised that one has to damage one's hands by charring or putting acid so he did not pursue it, says the CBI in its chargesheet. He also stated that Ashok was not involved in the murder and it was only he who murdered Prince, says the chargesheet. 

According to the CBI, the fingerprints at the scene of crime matched with the juvenile in conflict of the law. Though Bholu is a teenager but under the amended law, he will be tried as an adult, says the CBI. The agency did an extensive analysis of CCTV footage, identified the source of the murder weapon, knife, with Bholu's help and checked the records of email and mobile usage of the juvenile which has also been taken as evidence in the case. Circumstantial evidence is also part of the chargesheet besides statements of several witnesses. 

The CBI says that further investigation is still on pertaining to role of the school and lapses, if any, on the part of the Haryana Police.

Ashok's lawyer, advocate Mohit Verma says that they are waiting for his discharge by the court and the matter will come up on February 12. “We have been saying from the beginning that Ashok was wrongfully implicated in the case. We are relieved that the CBI has agreed that he is innocent, but we cannot say anything till he is discharged. The accused chargesheeted may contest his discharge so we have to wait and watch and pray that Ashok is discharged with honour. He committed no crime,'' Verma told THE WEEK. 

The CBI finally summed up in its chargesheet that since no evidence has been found against Ashok, the court may discharge him. At the same time, it said that since a case of committing of murder of Prince is made out against Bholu , the court may take cognizance for the commission of offences punishable under section 302 of IPC against Bholu accordingly as per law.

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