Gurgaon police chief defends Ryan murder probe

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said the investigation done by his Special Investigation Team had taken the natural course

Following the arrest of a Class 11 student in the murder case of Pradhyumn Thakur, a Class 2 student of Ryan International School, the Gurgaon police chief on Thursday defended the investigation they had conducted.

The police said the findings made by the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) are based on a sustained investigation over a period of one-and-a-half months (Sanjeev Verma/HT FILE PHOTO)

The police said the findings made by the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) are based on a sustained investigation over a period of one-and-a-half months.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said the investigation done by his Special Investigation Team (SIT) had taken the natural course in connection with the murder of the eight-year-old boy on the premises of Ryan International School, Bhondsi on September 8.

The city police, however, had few answers to questions on its theory about the alleged sexual assault on the boy, the “confession” of bus conductor Ashok Kumar, which was obtained by police, and failure to include the juvenile suspect in its probe.

Khirwar tried his best to defend the SIT that had probed the case. Khirwar said the investigation was transferred midway and the police were not able to conclude the probe in a short time. Haryana director general of police, BS Sandhu, had also cited the short time as the reason on Wednesday.

“At the time of his arrest, the probe team took all precautions. We just had 10 to 12 days to probe the matter whereas the CBI had ample time to investigate different angles,” Khirwar said.

Khirwar also said the CBI had not officially communicated to them the latest developments and it was premature for him to comment on the agency’s probe.

“Whatever the CBI has done has not been communicated to Gurgaon police officially. The probe was transferred midway and whatever evidence the police gathered was handed over to the CBI,” Khirwar said.

Khirwar also said that the forensic reports of the material evidence and DNA report of samples were still awaited. He said that was why it was not possible to describe the knife recovered from the crime spot as the weapon used in the crime.

Khirwar also denied allegations that Gurgaon police was working under pressure to clsoe the case or frame Kumar.

He, however, could not explain why the SIT had been hasty in arresting and concluding that Kumar was the main culprit.

“We did not implicate anyone in the murder. We had collected the evidence methodically and before we arrived at a conclusion, the investigation was taken over by the CBI. We did not file the chargesheet and fix any person’s name in the case. The probe was under way when the case was transferred,” Khirwar said.