New Delhi: The Gurugram police on Friday evening arrested a bus conductor for murdering a 7-year-old student of Ryan International School. The class 2 student's body was found in the washroom on Friday morning.
A police officer said that Ashok had confessed to committing his crime. "He took the child to the washroom to sexually assault him. When the kid tried to raise an alarm, he killed him," police said.
The seven-year-old was dropped to school by his father at around 7:30 in the morning. His body, in a pool of blood, was discovered by a student when he went to the loo. The student informed the school administration and teachers. A knife was also found lying near the body.
"The kid was alive when we saw him lying in a pool of blood. We took him to the hospital immediately... only after investigation, one can say where the knife inside the school premises came from," Neeraja Bhatra, School Coordinator, told CNN-News18 in the morning.
The police, who said they had detained ten people, told PTI they zeroed in on the accused after two students saw him walking down a corridor.
Ashok Kumar confessed to the crime after being questioned by a team, the police said.
As soon as the boy entered the toilet, Kumar held him. But the boy resisted his attempts. When the accused failed in his sexual assault bid, he slit his throat and cut his right ear," a senior police officer told PTI.
The police claimed that he walked out of the washroom, leaving the knife behind, and later, joined the teachers in taking the bleeding kid to the hospital.
The police said it had earlier detained and questioned 10 people, including a gardener, conductors and drivers.
"We have been investigating their role since the morning," the DCP said.
School head Neerja Batra said she had come out of the morning assembly prayers when she saw a teacher running, followed by two more teachers.
"The child was in a pool of blood. We did not wait for a second and put the child in my vehicle and I sent them to the hospital," she said.
The school said in a statement it was "deeply saddened by the tragic incident".
In 2016, the body of a six-year-old student of the school's Vasant Kunj branch in south Delhi was found in a water tank. The principal and a teacher were booked for negligence in May this year.
The brutal murder in the upmarket Gurgaon school evoked widespread horror, prompting the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to visit the school and the hospital where the child was taken.
The apex body for child rights recommended that a case of negligence be registered against the management of the school.
"We have told the police that a case of negligence be registered against the school management as we have found that the school did not undertake police verification of teaching and non-teaching staff," said Priyank Kanoongo, Member RTE & Education, NCPCR.
A police team, including forensic experts, had earlier collected blood samples and fingerprints from the washroom and tested the blood stained knife that had been recovered from the spot.
(With inputs from PTI)
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