Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Friday that the state government will take over the administration of Gurugram's Ryan International School, where a second grader was brutally murdered on September 8, for three months, and yielded to the victim's father demand for a CBI inquiry into the crime that has horrified the nation.
After his visit to the grieving family, Khattar said: "The investigation into the murder, being done by the Haryana police, will now be done by the CBI. The case is being handed over to the CBI for investigation."
He said Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh will be in-charge of running the affairs of the school for three months.
School bus conductor Ashok Kumar, 42, had killed the 7-year-old with a knife after he resisted an attempt to sodomise him, the police had said. "Glad that the sensitivity this case deserved has been shown," said the child's father, Barun Thakur, who works as a quality manager for a private company in Delhi.
Thakur has already moved the Supreme Court for a CBI probe, alleging that the murder was planned. Two top officials of the school have been arrested for failing to ensure security on the campus.
The accused's family had also sought a CBI probe, saying he had been coerced by the police to confess to the crime he never committed.
The Gurugram police on Thursday questioned a gardener and around 15 teachers of the school, ranked among the top in the country. The gardener is said to be a key witness to the crime.
"The entire investigation stands concocted, fabricated and manipulated and even the basics of the investigation are not being adhered to," the father had said in his petition to the top court.
He had also sought the establishment of an independent tribunal to look into similar cases taking place in schools across the country, and suggested that states must take action against such institutions, their directors or promoters found flouting established norms.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday rejected the transit anticipatory bail application filed by the top management of Ryan International group.
