The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained a Class 11 student on Wednesday morning for the murder of seven-year-old Pradhyuman Thakur, who was found dead in Gurugram's Ryan International School in September.
The news appears as a big twist in the murder case, where the school's bus conductor was initially arrested as a suspect. Gurugram Police had said that the bus conductor had confessed to committing the crime, and said that he killed the boy after the child resisted a sexual assault bid.
Reports state that the detained student is from the same school as Pradhyuman, and was detained from his residence in Sohna near Gurugram, according to CNN-News18.
According to CBI, the Class XI student committed the crime in an attempt to get examinations postponed.
The boy was reportedly the first one to spot and identify Pradhyuman's body in August. His family has claimed that the boy is innocent and is being "framed."
"The CBI has arrested my child illegally. They claim he killed Pradhyuman. However, this is not true," his family said.
#RyanMurderMystery Cracked?: CBI told me that my son has murdered Pradyuman. But this is not true: Father of detained boy to CNN-News18 pic.twitter.com/cHJZsxJmyn
— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 8, 2017
My child is innocent, he was questioned by CBI 4-5 times earlier: Father of the boy who was detained by CBI in Pradyuman Thakur murder case.
— IndiaTodayFLASH (@IndiaTodayFLASH) November 8, 2017
CBI will be filing the charge-sheet on November 18. The investigators are also questioning the family members of the Class 11 boy in the case, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Pradhyuman's father Barun Chandra Thakur accused Gurugram Police of neglecting "actual facts" in the case.
"There is more than one angle to the case. It's not just the role of the conductor but there are many others who also need to be probed," Thakur was quoted as saying by CNN-News18.
Pradyuman, a Class 2 student, was found lying in a pool of blood in a toilet in the school on September 8 with his throat slit. The incident triggered angry protests by parents who were left shocked by the ghastly murder and demanded a CBI probe into the incident. They also accused the school management of negligence.
The CBI eventually took over the probe on September 22.
