SC reserves verdict on plea against bail to trustees of Ryan, will pass order on December 11

A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre reserved its verdict and said it will pass order on December 11.

During the hearing, advocate Sushil Tekriwal, appearing for the father of victim Pradhuman, said the grant of anticipatory bail to the trustees of the group which runs the school by the Punjab and Haryana High Court was absolutely "illegal", "unwarranted", "unconstitutional" and "erroneous".

He said the murder of the class II student had taken place in the campus of Ryan International School and hence the order of the high court should be set aside.

Tekriwal said the present case was rarest in nature keeping in view the manner in which the boy was killed.

Advocate Sandeep Kapur, appearing for Ryan Pinto, Grace Pinto and A F Pinto, said the trustees were never directly involved in the administration of each school and only took policy decisions.

"CBI was looking into the conspiracy angle for the murder of the boy in the school but has not found any evidence regarding the involvement of the respondents," he said.

Kapur said that merely on suspicion, a person cannot be arrested and put behind bars when he is in no manner related to an offence.

He said the school authority and its management was fully cooperating with CBI in the matter and intended to help the investigating agency reach a conclusion regarding the commission of murder of the student inside the school.

Kapur said recently the CBI has arrested a student of the school against whom it has collected evidence regarding commission of the crime.

"The case and the plea of the CBI against the petitioners (Pintos) is same as it was on the date of passing of order granting anticipatory bail and no new plea or evidence has come on file of investigating agency connecting the petitioners with the crime in this case," he said.

Pradhuman was found with his throat slit in the school washroom in Gurgaon on September 8. School bus conductor Ashok Kumar was earlier arrested by Haryana Police in connection with the crime. He was recently granted bail by a lower court.

The case was transferred to the CBI and the agency had apprehended a class 11 student in connection with the killing.

Earlier, the apex court had agreed to hear the appeal seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted by the high court to three trustees of the Group.

The high court had on November 21 granted anticipatory bail to Ryan International Group CEO Ryan Pinto and his parents -- founding chairman Augustine Pinto and managing director Grace Pinto, in connection with the killing of Pradhuman.