Ryan school murder: Court to hear accused bus conductor’s bail plea on Nov 20

Pradhyumn Thakur, 8, was found with his throat slit outside a school toiled on September 8. His death triggered widespread outrage and brought into focus the safety of children in schools across the country.

A Gurgaon special court on Thursday took up the bail application of Ashok Kumar, who has been behind bars for more than two months after Gurgaon police accused him of killing Ryan International student Pradhyumn Thakur, but kept the decision pending till November 20 when further arguments will be heard.

Gurgaon police had detained Ashok Kumar within a few hours of the murder. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

The court heard arguments from counsels of Kumar and CBI’s lawyers.

Lawyers representing Kumar, who worked as a bus conductor until he was arrested, moved a bail application on November 10, shortly after federal investigators from the CBI accused a school student of committing the murder.

Thakur, who was 8 years old, was found with his throat slit outside a school toiled on September 8. His death triggered widespread outrage and brought into focus the safety of children in schools across the country.

Additional district and sessions judge Rajni Yadav will hear the arguments and had earlier sought a reply from the CBI, which is learnt to have sent its response.

Gurgaon police had detained Kumar within a few hours of Thakur’s death. In a press conference in the evening, they said Kumar killed the boy after attempting sexual assault. The police also claimed Kumar brought a knife from the bus tool box and threw it into the toilet after the murder.

After spending four days in police custody, he was sent to judicial custody at Bhondsi jail on September 12.

CBI’s new findings have now raised worries that the local police cooked up the entire sequence of events. Kumar’s lawyer Mohit Verma, who moved the application, said his client has faced enough and the CBI has already given clean chit as there could not be two accused in the case and there is no evidence against. “He was framed by the Gurgaon police”, he said.

Verma reached Gurgaon from Rohtak around 6 am, went to village Ghamroj to meet Kumar’s family. The family met Kumar in prison on Wednesday and he told them to pray for him.

“I am praying for his bail, I will cook his favourite food, ‘Bajre Ki roti’ when he returns home today. The children are excited and have refused to go to the school, but I have asked them not to miss the school as my husband will reach home by evening. There will be a celebration in the village and our relatives will also join us in the evening”, said Mamta, Kumar’s wife.

According to the sources in Bhondsi jail, Kumar is nervous and has been stressed.

Official sources indicated that though the CBI would not oppose the bail but there may be hiccups since the juvenile accused has retracted his confession, accusing the CBI of forcing him to purportedly admit to the crime. The boy’s father said that investigators beat him up and recorded the confession in their own words – a charge that Kumar had also levelled against Gurgaon Police.

Barun Chandra Thakur, Pradhyumn’s father, on Wednesday filed a petition in the juvenile justice board (JJ Board) seeking the trial of the 16-year-old accused as an adult, saying the crime he committed was “chilling, horrific, monstrous and serious in nature”.

Pradhyumn’s family said the accused should be tried as an adult as per the “mandate, warrant and spirit of the amendment carried in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015”.