Since Praduman’s school bag was found inside the toilet, it indicates that he entered the toilet straight away from the gate and was attacked by someone who used the windows as an escape route.

Ajay Kumar | Posted by Sonalee Borgohain

The brutal murder of seven-year-old Praduman has left several unanswered questions, especially after police found the toilet where he was killed had three windows with no grills. Police are now probing whether someone else committed the crime and used one of the windows to escape.

Praduman’s father Varun Thakur claimed that he had dropped his two kids to school at 7.55 am on Friday. Bus driver Saurabh Raghav also claimed to have entered the school at the same time, after which the accused conductor Ashok Kumar helped deboard the students which would take a few minutes. Kumar also helped Raghav park the bus which too would take some time.

Since, Praduman’s school bag was found inside the toilet, it indicates that he entered the toilet straight away from the gate and was attacked by someone who used the windows as an escape route.

Earlier in the day, police arrested Ryan International School’s regional head of northern India, Francis Thomas, and the HR head of the school, Jeyus Thomas, under the Juvenile Justice Act. They were produced in Sohna court, which sent them to police remand for two days.

Gurugram police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar said, “We have sent a four-member team to Mumbai to quiz Ryan Pinto, the managind director and chairman of this group and other top officials.”

He also added that police have found the school management guilty of destruction of evidences such as cleaning the blood on the floor. Some more arrests are likely to take place soon, he further said.

Meanwhile, a three-member team constituted by the Gurugram civil administration submitted its report to the deputy commissioner on Monday. “The committee has detected five lapses in the school, such as broken windows, ill-equipped fire extinguishers common toilets, broken boundary wall and low quality CCTV without wide angle facilities,” said Vinay Pratap Singh, deputy commissioner, Gurugram.

Singh has recommended the report to the directorate, education department, for further action. The education department has three options – to take over the management of the school, cancellation of license and imposition of a fine of Rs 25,000 per lapse.

Sources said that education department is planning to take over the management to send out a strong message to other schools.

On the other hand, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has taken suo-moto cognisance of the incident and shot off letters to the deputy commissioner, Gurugram; additional chief secretary, department of school education, Haryana; and chairman, CBSE, asking them to file a detailed action report.

The NCPCR also instructed police to take action against the accused under the POCSO Act. It has sought action against the school under CBSE rules and a compliance report from CBSE within a week. The state government and police have been asked to submit a detailed action taken report within three days.