CBI says 16-year-old Ryan student admits to killing Pradyumn

The CBI on Tuesday night arrested a Class 11 student of Gurgaon’s Ryan International School for allegedly murdering Pradyumn Thakur.

A 16-year-old student of Gurgaon’s Ryan International School, detained by the CBI in connection with the murder of eight-year-old Pradyumn Thakur, confessed to his crime in front of his father and an independent witness, the agency has told a juvenile court.

The CBI produces a Class 11 student (face covered) of Ryan International School in a juvenile court, in Gurgaon on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The juvenile was on Thursday taken to a “certain place” by Central Bureau of Investigation officials for the corroboration of his statement.

A special crime team of the CBI, which is questioning him, remained tight-lipped about the exercise, saying it could affect the probe.

However, sources said during the questioning session between 10am and 5pm, allowed by the juvenile court in Gurgaon, he was taken to a “certain place” to substantiate his statements on the activities before and after the crime. The court has sent the juvenile to three-day CBI custody.

In its note seeking remand of the suspect, the agency said on Wednesday his custodial interrogation was needed to ascertain if there were other people involved in the crime.

They said the agency will go through an extensive corroborative exercise, which will include the identification of the person and shop who sold him the murder weapon -- a knife, and crime scene recreation, among others, before filing its report in the court.

Pradyumn, a Class 2 student of the school, was found dead with his throat slit inside the premises on September 8.

According to the agency, the suspect, believed to be weak in his studies, allegedly slit Pradyumn’s throat to get the school to declare a holiday in order to defer a scheduled parent-teacher meeting (PTM) and an examination.

The agency did not find any evidence of sexual assault, a CBI spokesperson said on Wednesday.

In a big twist to the case, the agency also rejected the Gurgaon police’s theory that the killing was the handiwork of school bus conductor Ashok Kumar. The CBI has said that there was no evidence against Kumar so far.