The Gurugram District and Sessions Court on Monday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation time till July 4 to submit a supplementary chargesheet in the murder of a Class 2 student at a private school in the city in September.
On September 8, the Class 2 student was found with his throat slit inside a washroom of the school in Haryana’s Gurugram. The autopsy revealed that injuries on the boy’s neck, inflicted by a sharp-edged weapon, caused his death. The Gurugram Police initially arrested a bus conductor, but the CBI detained a 16-year-old student for the crime on November 8. The bus conductor was released.
On Monday, Additional Sessions Judge Jasbir Singh Kundu granted extra time to the CBI after taking note of the agency’s plea that it needed one-and-a-half months to complete its ongoing investigation, PTI reported.
The court also reserved its order on a petition filed by the 16-year-old Class 11 student challenging the Juvenile Justice Board’s decision declaring him an adult. The court will pronounce its order on May 21, and the trial in the case will begin on July 4.
Advocate Sushil Tekriwal, the lawyer of the Class 2 student’s family, said the juvenile board’s order to try the main accused as an adult was “well reasoned” and there was “nothing illegal” in it. The Class 11 student’s lawyer, however, said it was “bad in law” and was passed without giving him the chance to present his case.
The CBI, in its chargesheet, told the court that it had “sufficient evidence” against the Class 11 student. Fingerprints at the crime scene matched with that of the teen and his mobile data and CCTV footage established his guilt. Ashok Kumar, the bus conductor who was initially arrested and released later, has now been made one of the prime witnesses in the case for the CBI. The agency claimed that the teenager had murdered the Class 2 student in an attempt to get some exams postponed and cancel a scheduled parent-teacher meeting.
In January, the court had restrained the media and public from revealing the identity of those involved in the murder. Judge Kundu said the terms “Vidyalaya”, “Prince” and “Bholu” should be used to refer to the school, the 16-year-old student of the institute accused of the murder and the victim.
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