Ryan school Pradhyuman case: juvenile says CBI forced him to confess

Pradhyuman murder case took another turn after the arrest of a juvenile who allegedly confessed to crime. But on Monday the juvenile accused of murdering Class 2 student Pradhyumn Thakur at Gurgaon’s Ryan International School has retracted the confession and said that he was forced into it.

The boy is said to have alleged the investigators beat him up and recorded the confession in their own words.

When the visiting team reached the observation home in Faridabad, they got to know the accused’s family members were present there, sources said. “To verify their presence and to check whether they met the accused, agency officials have asked for CCTV footage as meetings are not allowed on Mondays. Family meetings can only take place on Tuesdays and Fridays,” a source said.

Legal experts said a confessional statement before a police officer did not hold any evidential value.

“But if the statement of the accused leads to the recovery of any article connected with the crime, the confession can have a little more credibility. But even then the investigating agency will have to prove case the case against the accused beyond doubt,” said Karan Singh, a lawyer.