Pradyuman Thakur killing: Did detained Class XI student slit the boy's throat to get exams postponed?

The Central Bureau of Investigation today detained a Class XI student of Gurgaon, Haryana's Ryan International School in connection with the gruesome murder of seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur.

The detention, which has been made under Indian Penal Code Section 302 (punishment for murder) and Section 25 of the Arms Act, comes as a major twist in the Pradyuman Thakur murder case, a case that grabbed national headlines. The CBI is expected to release an official statement later today morning.

Speaking exclusively to India Today, the father of the arrested Class XI student confirmed the detention but claimed there was a conspiracy to frame his son.

The father said his boy was questioned by the CBI for an entire day at the agency's headquarters in New Delhi before being detained. According to the father, his son was the first one to spot Pradyuman on the day of the murder.

5) Father of the arrested juvenile claims conspiracy. Says have sympathy for #Pradhyuman's family but his son is being framed.6) CBI questioned the boy right from the beginning, interrogated at least 5 times at CBI HQ as well as school6) CBI likely to file chargesheet by Nov 18- Ankit Tyagi (@Ankit_Tyagi01) November 8, 2017

While there is no official comment from the CBI on this, the father told India Today that investigators said his son wanted school exams postponed and so murdered Pradyuman in order to get Ryan International School to declare a holiday.

The father has also alleged that his boy was tortured by the CBI and has claimed that he wasn't allowed to meet his child before he was detained.

On the other hand, sources within the Central Bureau of Investigation told India Today that the arrested minor has confessed to killing Pradyuman. "We have material evidence as well," one source said.

THE CONDUCTOR

Up until right now, a school bus conductor at Gurgaon's Ryan International School was believed to be the prime suspect in the murder of the seven-year-old. On the very day of the killing, Gurgaon Police arrested the conductor for the child's murder.

Gurgaon Police even claimed they had managed to secure a confession from the conductor - Ashok Kumar. According to the cops then, Ashok had confessed to attempting to sexually abuse Pradyuman and then killing him when the boy resisted.

Policemen near the Ryan International School washroom where the 7-year-old Pradyuman's body was found (PTI photo)

However, the conductor's family members had claimed he was being framed while Pradyuman's parents themselves had expressed suspicion that the Ryan International School was hiding information in the Pradyuman murder case.

It was after sustained pressure from the parents that the ML Khattar government in Haryana transferred the murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Speaking to India Today soon after news of the Class XI student's arrest broke, Pradyuman's father, Varun Thakur, expressed satisfaction with how the national agency has investigated his child's killing. Varun, however, said he had not been informed about the arrest as yet.

THE MURDER

The seven-year-old Pradyuman Thakur was found dead inside the washroom of Gurgaon's Ryan International School on the morning of September 8, 2017.

The Class II boy's body was discovered by fellow school students at around 8 am - Pradyuman was found with his throat slit and a knife near his body. Postmortem later revealed that a 18x2-cm neck-to-ear cut was what killed the child.

That very night, Gurgaon Police, which handled the initial murder probe, arrested Ashok Kumar, employed as a bus driver at Ryan International School.

Police claimed Ashok came across Pradyuman in the washroom just as classes were starting at the Gurgaon school. There, police claimed, Ashok tried to sexually abuse the boy and then slit his throat when the child resisted.

(With inputs from Satender Chauhan)

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