Ryan Case: The Grounds on Which CBI Got Custody of Teen Accused

The juvenile confessed to murdering Pradyumn in front of his father, independent witnesses & CBI’s Welfare Officer.

Students take out a candle march to pay tributes and demand justice for seven-year-old Pradyumn Thakur.

(Photo: PTI)

The Quint has accessed documents pertaining to the Ryan International School murder case of 7-year-old Pradyumn Thakur, which reveals that the apprehended juvenile in the case had confessed to his crime. As per the documents and the CBI’s sources, the juvenile confessed to committing the crime in the presence of independent witnesses, his father, and the welfare officer of CBI.

The document also reveals that his father was duly informed of the apprehension of the juvenile.

On Tuesday, the juvenile was apprehended by the CBI at 11:30 pm after being questioned for hours by the agency. The CBI’s probe gave a new twist to the case when it was found that the teen committed the crime to get exams and a parent-teacher meeting postponed.

On Wednesday, the teen was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board in Gurugram where the CBI managed to get custody of him for three days.

Here are the grounds on which the CBI sought his custody:

• To ascertain and identify the shop from where the knife used in crime was procured.
• To ascertain the details of other persons, if any, involved in the murder
• Sequence of events which led to Pradyumn’s murder
• To reconstruct the scene of crime
• To unearth conspiracy, if any, behind the crime
• To collect more evidence in the case

On Thursday, the CBI took the juvenile to several places, including the shop from where he procured the murder weapon.

According to CBI sources, the juvenile’s date of birth is 3 April 2001, which means he is over 16 years old. This will become one of the essential grounds for Pradyumn’s lawyer to plead that the Juvenile Justice Board transfer the case to an adult court.

As per the new Juvenile Justice Act, the age at which one can be tried as an adult was lowered from 18 to 16. But to get a juvenile tried in the adult court, the prosecution has to prove beyond a doubt to the Juvenile Justice Board the accused’s age and that he has committed a ‘heinous’ crime.