JOIN USRyan Int'l School principal arrested
The principal and four other staff of south Delhi’s Ryan International School were arrested on Thursday, five days after a six-year-old student was found dead in a water tank on the school campus.
Police said the accused were identified as Principal Sandhya Sabu, 50, class teacher Minakshi Kapoor, 38, drinking water system operator Yogesh Kholiya, 23, maintenance-in-charge of the tank Puran Singh Bisht, 65, and gardener Ram Narayan, 44.
All five were arrested under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) of IPC.
Police said the five people were arrested after thorough questioning of several employees and school management.
On Saturday, Divyansh Kakrora, a class I student, was found dead in the reservoir under the ampitheatre of the school.
School authorities had told the police that the boy was last seen before the seventh period, which was around 12.20 pm. They later found him floating in the reservoir and rushed him to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead.
It was the hospital authorities and not those of the school who had informed the police about the incident.
After preliminary investigation, the police had registered a case of negligence causing death at the Vasant Kunj North police station.
Later in the day, Delhi government had also ordered a magisterial probe.
The initial post-mortem report of Divyansh suggested he died of drowning and no external injuries were found, police said.
The police had questioned the school authorities, including the principal, for five days.
Deceased parents are both paramedical staff at AIIMS, police said, adding that the family lives in Sultanpur locality in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area. The boy’s father termed it a conspiracy and alleged that someone from the school was behind the incident.
Probe influencial
AAP MLA Devendra Sehrawat on Thursday wrote to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung alleging that the probe into the death of a six-year-old student at Ryan International School is being “influenced” by the management, reports PTI .
The media and parents of the child are also “feeling the pressure”, Sehrawat, legislator of the Vijwasan constituency, said in the letter.
He had earlier sought the cancellation of the school’s license.
In the letter, that was apparently written before the arrest of the Principal of the school, Sehrawat stressed that the cases, including the one involving the death of a child in an SDMC school, will have to be taken out of the local police stations to ensure “fair probe”.
“Divyansh’s death has happened in suspicious circumstances. His father wants the case to be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). I request you to agree to the demand in public interest. Ryan School is a big organisation and its influence is pretty apparent in the investigation. Media and the parents of the child are also feeling the pressure,” the letter said.
The principal and four other staff of the school were arrested on Thursday, triggering outrage.