Ryan student death: Waiting for chargesheet to defend case, says bus conductor's lawyer

File photo: Bus conductor Ashok Kumar being escorted by police.

The lawyer of the bus conductor who is accused of murdering a 7-year-old boy at Gurgaon's Ryan International School, said he was waiting for the charge sheet prepared by the city police's Special Investigation Team to defend his client.

The lawyer, Mohit Verma, told PTI that the charges leveled against his client by the SIT need to be examined point-wise in order to defend the case.

"We want strong facts like the CCTV footage installed in the Ryan International School's corridor pointing to the toilet and the crime scene.

"We need to know the timing of the deceased and bus conductor Ashok Kumar entering into the toilet. Also, the facial expression and body language of Kumar when he came out of the toilet," Verma told PTI.

The lawyer said that various statements of key witnesses such as school teachers and ground staff need to be cross- checked to match with the SIT claims and theory mentioned in the charge sheet.

"The SIT investigation revolves around 7 key persons identified as two school students, gardener Harpal Singh, section incharge-Anju Dudeja, suspended principal Neerja Batra, bus driver Raghav and my client Kumar.

"The CCTV footage will give vital clue for the first responders who saw Pradhuman lying on the floor of the corridor and sought help," Verma said.

"We are waiting for the CBI to submit the charge sheet of the case as the Gurgaon Police failed to deposit it. We will then obtain a copy of it and prepare our case in a strong manner," Verma said.

Varun Thakur, the father of deceased, said that he has sought the CCTV footage from the Gurgaon Police SIT to examine what happened on the day of crime.

Thakur claimed that the police officials have denied to hand it over to him.

"I am not satisfied with the police theory as the accused conductor has no point and no strong motive to kill my son.

"The police has also failed to produce any motive since the very first day of its investigation. The police theory is still mismatched as compared to statements of key eye witnesses," Thakur told PTI.

Amit Arya, OSD to Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar said the state government wrote a letter to the CBI, asking it to take over the probe in the Pradhuman case.

A class 2 student, Pradhuman Thakur, was found dead in a school toilet with his throat slit on September 8. The schoolbus conductor was arrested the same day for allegedly killing the child.