Ryan murder: Child couldn't cry for help due to slashed nerve

Doctor who conducted the post-mortem says the child was not sexually assaulted and died of excessive bleeding.

The seven-year-old boy found murdered inside Ryan International School in Gurugram was not sexually assaulted and died of excessive bleeding, the doctor who conducted the post-mortem said on Tuesday.

In a related development, the Bombay high court granted interim protection from arrest to Ryan International Group's founding chairman Augustine Pinto and his wife and managing director Grace till Wednesday in connection with the murder.

Group CEO Ryan Pinto filed an anticipatory bail application in the high court this evening, their lawyer said.

Dr Deepak Mathur, who conducted the post-mortem, also said there were two cuts on the boy's body and a nerve was slashed due to which he could not cry for help when he was attacked.

"The second point that came out in the report is that the child died due to excessive bleeding. There was no sexual assault on the minor and no semen marks were found on his school dress," he said.

A fact-finding three member committee, constituted by the Gurugram district administration, submitted its report to District Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.

"The committee has detected lapses on the part of the school such as broken window, ill-equipped fire extinguishers, common toilets, no police verification of conductors and drivers and other ground staff, broken boundary wall and low quality CCTV without having wide-angle facilities, students' toilets without guard," Singh said.

Meanwhile, police recorded statements of two students in connection with the murder of their schoolmate.

"The SIT recorded statements of two students who went to change their Taekwondo dress inside the toilet at the time of the crime. The team is also questioning the suspended school principal Neerja Batra and two other female teachers," a senior police officer said.

School bus conductor Ashok Kumar, who allegedly tried to sexually assault the class II student in a toilet and slit his throat with a knife when he resisted last Friday last, was sent to judicial custody till September 17.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Sohna Road, Birem Singh confirmed that bus conductor Ashok is the only one involved in the murder.

Singh said, "Only Ashok has murdered Pradyuman, no other person is involved. The act of negligence by the school is separate. Two others are also being questioned for the same. Questioning the bus-conductor is complete and the remand has ended."

"He told us whatever we needed to know and we are satisfied with the information in hand," added ACP Birem Singh.

The ACP further apprised, "In questioning, two children disclosed he (accused bus-conductor) was present in the toilet before the incident."

He further assured that he will try his best to file the charge sheet in the court by Saturday, in regard to the matter.

As police are working to crack the case, Subhash Garg, a businessman, claimed the conductor carried the injured boy to a car to be shifted to a hospital on the orders of two teachers.

Garg said he had gone to deposit his son's fees on Friday and was standing at the main reception in the school when he heard some commotion.

"I saw two female teachers and two students were following an injured student who was being carried by Ashok Kumar. One of the teachers was weeping at that moment. She ordered Kumar to place him at the rear seat of the car," Garg said.

"There were also blood stains spread all over the place in a small toilet at the ground floor of the school building. There were blood stains on Kumar's shirt which may be due to the fact that he was carrying the boy," he claimed.

He further claimed that Kumar was behaving normally which is a rare thing for someone who has committed a crime, adding he recorded 1.14 minute video.

The school bus' driver Saurabh Raghav claimed Kumar was made a scapegoat by the school teachers.

The matter of safety of children in schools was also taken up in the Supreme Court which agreed to hear a plea of two women lawyers seeking framing of 'non-negotiable' child safety conditions and implementation of existing guidelines to protect school-going children from offences like sexual abuse and murder across the country.

The plea which also sought cancellation of licences and forfeiture of state grants of erring schools will be heard by the court along with the petition filed on Monday by the father of boy.

Union ministers Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar will hold a high-level meeting on Wednesday to develop a protocol for educational institutions to ensure safety of students following incidents of child sexual abuse in schools.

Officials of the ministries of women and child development and human resource development as well as representative of the National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), CBSE, NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan will be a part of this meeting.

Haryana Police quizzes staff at Ryan school group HQ in Mumbai

Two officers from the Haryana Police also questioned the staff of Ryan International School in suburban Kandivali in connection with the killing.

However, no member of the Pinto family was quizzed on Tuesday by the sleuths from Haryana, police said.

The two policemen, one of whom is an inspector-level officer, and some officials from the city police, arrived at the school in Kandivali that serves as the headquarters of the Ryan International Group of Institutions around 12.30 pm.

The questioning continued till 7.30 pm, a senior police official said.

The city police was not part of the investigation, he said.

"The Haryana police officers questioned the school staff in connection with the murder of a boy in Gurugram. The Mumbai Police was not part of the investigation...As per our information, no member of the Pinto family was questioned today," Vinaykumar Rathod, DCP Zone XII, told PTI.

IMAGE: Police team investigating the spot inside the school after the murder of the 7-year-old. Photograph: PTI Photo