Azad Yadav, the father of one of the Gurgaon teenagers who allegedly shot dead a classmate, was arrested on Friday hours after he told a private news channel that the gun used in the killing did not belong to him.
Yadav, who was on the run since the Tuesday shooting resulting in the death of Class 8 student Abhishek Tyagi at an upscale school in Gurgaon, was arrested in the evening, but the police refused to disclose the place of his arrest.
"We have arrested Yadav and he has been taken for interrogation," Deputy Commissioner of Police Satish Balan told IANS.
Earlier in the day, Yadav told a private news channel that the .32 bore US-make revolver allegedly used by the two 14-year-olds belonged to a state official.
The Gurgaon police on Thursday included his name in the first information report (FIR) for handling firearms casually and negligently. The offence carries a maximum of three-year prison sentence. One of the boys had smuggled in his father's revolver to the school. The gun was reportedly kept in the television trolley in the drawing room.
However, Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mahender Lal told IANS that they did not know who the owner of the gun was.
{{/usCountry}}However, Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mahender Lal told IANS that they did not know who the owner of the gun was.
{{/usCountry}}"We don't know about the owner of the gun that Yadav's son used for killing Tyagi. We would be able to disclose something only after Yadav's interrogation," Lal added.
The firing occurred in the elite Euro International School, which claims to be an institution of international stature, in Sector 45 close to the national capital, well after the school hours.
Tyagi, 14, had just climbed down the stairs to the ground floor to board the schoolbus back home when he was allegedly shot dead by two students. Tyagi lay dead in a pool of blood on the stairs, with two bullets in the chest and one in the forehead.
The two boys were sent to the custody of a juvenile home.
Asked about the security provided to the families of the accused after the Tyagis allegedly vowed revenge, Lal said: "Nobody has approached us seeking security."
The victim's family has, meanwhile, accused the police of inaction.
"Why are they (police) taking so long to arrest Yadav? He should be arrested immediately and charged with murder and criminal conspiracy," said Ravindra Tyagi, father of the dead boy.
"We want a speedy investigation," he added.
Meanwhile, the school reopened after two days of closure and the police prevented television channel crews from entering the premises.
School chairman Satyavir Yadav said: "Today we registered 65 per cent attendance. Students have come with their parents and all of them were given counselling."
He added: "The presence of television media is causing disruption as students are regularly peeping outside the windows to see the movement of television reporters and cameramen."