Ryan's northern zone head sent to 3-day police custody, HR head to 5-day judicial custody

Gurugram: Ryan International Group's northern zone head Francis Thomas was on Wednesday sent to three days police custody while the school's human resource head Jeyus Thomas to five days judicial custody by a Sohna court in connection with the murder of a seven-year-old student.

The Gurgaon Police had arrested Francis and Jeyus, under relevant sections of the IPC and Juvenile Justice Act, following the gruesome murder of Pradhuman on Friday last.

The schoolboy's body was found in a washroom with the throat slit.

Francis was sent to police custody till September 16 while Jeyus to judicial custody till September 18 by the court, an SIT officer said.

Earlier in the day, five days after the gruesome murder, SIT teams searched the school premises for clues to the crime while a CBSE panel also inspected it to examine loopholes in the security arrangements.

The Gurgaon Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the crime also took samples of fingerprints and shoes at the crime scene, including the toilet, a day after recreating the sequence of events there.

The SIT clicked photos and shot videos of the suspected places to examine the nature of the crime again.

On the other hand, the Bombay High Court today adjourned, till Thursday morning, the hearing in the anticipatory bail plea filed by Ryan International School trustees in a case involving the murder of a Class 2 student at their Gurugram branch.

The adjournment follows an intervention application -- filed by the father of the Class II student, seeking dismissal of the anticipatory transit bail plea filed by the school trustees.

Varun Chandra Thakur intervened through his lawyers Sushil K. Tekriwal and Mamta Tekriwal in the hearing of the bail plea of the three school trustees -- Augustine F. Pinto, Grace Pinto and Ryan Pinto.

Apprehending their arrest, the trustees of the St. Xaviers Education Trust, which manages the Ryan International Schools across India, filed the plea on Monday.

At the hearing this afternoon, the Pintos' lawyer Nitin Pradhan argued they had not been served the notices by the lawyers of Thakur who sought to become an intervenor in the matter today.

Thakur's lawyers countered by arguing that they had served the notices, but the Pintos' lawyers refused to accept them.

After the brief hearing, Justice A. S. Gadkari adjourned the bail plea matter till Thursday morning, said lawyer Manoj Dhall, who is representing another another intervenor, the Parents Group for Students Welfare (PGSW).

Besides the victim's father, and PGSW, another intervenor is lawyer Gunratan Sadavarte representing the Ambedkar Students Association which had actively raised the Rohith Vemula suicide case almost two years ago.

The Pintos' plea for anticipatory transit bail to move an appropriate judicial authority in Haryana came up for hearing on Tuesday when the court posted it for Wednesday.