Francis Thomas, North India head of Ryan International School, was sent to judicial custody till September 18. Francis Thomas and coordinator and Human Resource (HR) chief Jeyus Thomas were arrested on September 10 under section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act. Jeyus is already in judicial custody.
Ashok Kumar, the prime accused in the case, and both the school officials will be produced on before a special court in Gurugram on September 18.
Earlier, on Friday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar had announced a CBI probe into the murder of seven-year-old Pradhyuman Thakur inside a Ryan International school Bhondsi campus on September 8. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Gurugram Police on Thursday took Francis Thomas to different locations in Delhi to recovered documents and papers needed to corroborate his statements.
Meanwhile, the Gurugram Police as per the directions of the State Government recommending the transfer of Pradyuman’s murder case to CBI. The Government will also appeal to CBI to fast-track the case.
Sources said the transfer of the investigation to CBI means police will no longer file the chargesheet that they had said would do within a week. However, it could have been filed by Monday along with accused people in the case.
Moreover, sources also claimed that the investigation teams are preparing to hand over all case documents to the CBI.
“A notification has been sent to the Director General of Haryana Police (DGP), and now the Haryana Government will recommend the transfer of Ryan school murder case to CBI,” a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity, said.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Deputy Commissioner of Gurugram Vinay Pratap Singh held a meeting with several school management and ordered them to ensure a tight security in the school premises.
The DC said Haryana Government was committed to ensure the safety of students and added that there would be no compromise on this.
“Trained and trusted” staff to be employed as school bus drivers, conductors, safe pick-up and drop arrangements for the students, handing over the children only to authorised persons and fire safety, first aid were some of the aspects the regulations dealt with, the DC, said.
“Proper attendance record would have to be maintained, reporting of absentees, compulsory ID cards for the staff and students, no labourers should be allowed near the students, no construction work should be carried out during the school hours and no adult, except female sweepers, should have access to the toilets used by the students, he said.
He added that the schools should have a proper surveillance mechanism, including functional CCTV cameras into the school premises.
Besides that, separate toilets for non-teaching staff, police verification of the entire staff should be in place.
He said in case of non-compliance of these regulations, a strict action would be taken against the school management.