Two top Ryan officials held, cops reach Mumbai to grill group CEO

Four days after a seven-year-old student was found brutally murdered with his throat slit inside Ryan International School in Gurugram, the Haryana police on Monday arrested J Thomas, HR head, and Francis Thomas, regional head of the Ryan group of institutions. They were booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Police teams are questioning other school staff, while an SIT has been sent to Mumbai to interrogate group CEO Ryan Pinto, who and his parents moved the Mumbai High Court for anticipatory bail. The court is likely to hear the matter on Tuesday.

"The negligence on the school's part is being probed. More sections will be added if required. The bathroom does not have a grill and the school's boundary wall is also broken. Many lapses on part of teachers and the principal have come to fore and are being investigated," said Mohammad Akil, Haryana's ADGP (Law & Order).

After the ADGP visited the scene of crime on Monday, the police informed a local court in the state's Sohna that evidence had been tampered with by school authorities.

"There are more angles which are emerging. We are probing them and all complexities are being looked into," the officer said.

Meanwhile, the police arrested 11 people for rioting and setting afire a liquor shop near the school during protests on Sunday. The local SHO was suspended for negligence in handling the situation. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also spoke with family members of the victim over phone. Kumar also spoke with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and requested him to meet the family members who hail from Madhubani in Bihar.

The police had on Friday arrested a bus conductor of the school after the Class II student was spotted outside a school toilet, crawling and bleeding profusely before he died.

The acting principal of the school, Neerja Batra, has already been suspended. The services of a private agency that provided security to the school have also been suspended.

Even on Friday, the brutal murder had sparked angry protests by the victim's father, other guardians and locals who shouted slogans and vandalised school property. The police had to resort to lathicharge even then to control the mob fury and arrested five protesters who were later let off.