Gurgaon: Accused’s kin claim he was offered money to take the blame

Accused’s wife says he took up the Ryan job eight months ago to support the family

The 24-year-old wife of Ashok Kumar, accused of murdering an eight-year-old student in Ryan International School, Bhondsi, alleged on Monday that her husband did not even have money to get his driving licence made and had to take up the job of a conductor to make ends meet.

The accused’s wife Mamta (right) at her home in Ghamroj village on Monday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

If he had a criminal bent of mind, he wouldn’t have helped me run the household and sustain ourselves, claimed Mamta, claimed the wife of the accused who reportedly confessed to have killed the Ryan student.

“A tout had demanded ₹10,000 from my husband in lieu of getting him a driving licence, but we could not afford to pay that sum. Hence, he decided to take up the job of a conductor instead,” she said.

His parents claimed that if he had, indeed, confessed to the crime, it was because the school management offered him money to take the blame on himself.

Mamta, who works as a sweeper in a private school in Ghamroj village, said that she runs the house on a meagre income of ₹12,500 and it is often a strain to meet the educational expenses of their two boys, seven and eight years old.

“The only reason why my husband took up the job at the Ryan International School eight months ago was the salary. Earlier, he used to earn about ₹5,000 and it barely afforded us enough to run the house. He was not ambitious and never wanted to move out of his village in the quest of finding a better job,” Mamta said.

She said both her sons are not in good health. The elder one’s right hand was fractured last year after he fell from the roof, she said. “He is unable to even do his homework and barely manages to read. My younger one was diagnosed with stones in his kidney and has been in pain for the last three years,” Mamta said.

The accused’s mother suffers from Asthma and his father has low blood pressure, she said.

Neighbours said they know him to be calm and quiet since childhood and have never seen him interacting with the women in the village. They said he mostly kept to himself.

“Despite living on a meagre income, the couple makes sure his (the accused’s) sisters are well looked after and go home happy whenever they come to visit them. He took good care of his family members and relatives and never took a loan from anyone. We offered him financial help, so that he could fund his son’s surgery. But he denied, saying he won’t be able to repay,” Anuradha Singh, a neighbour, said.

Read I Ryan murder: Management booked, police hit parents with lathis

Villagers alleged that the Gurgaon police officials have not visited the house and neither have they met the family members of the accused. They said the police should have visited the village at least once and recorded the statements of his family members and neighbours.

They said only a staff of the school came by to take the accused’s Aadhaar card and they couldn’t meet him despite several attempts. They said they have no clue where he is lodged currently and what he is going through.

“While the family of the victim lost their only son, my husband is also the only son of his parents. I can feel the pain that the victim’s family is going through,” Mamta said.