Ryan school drowning takes murky turn, parents seek CBI probe

As the mystery in the tragic death of six-year-old Devyansh Meena in Ryan International School deepens, the Delhi government is considering the demand of the boy’s parents to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the matter.

The parents came out on Saturday indicating the possibility of sexual assault of the child and alleged the school administration of covering up the incident and demanded CBI probe. According to highly placed sources in Delhi police, the boy had injury marks on his private parts. Yet the police are mum on why the FIR was not registered under stringent sections but only under section 304 A (causing death by negligence).

“The observation of the parents are being ignored that the private parts of the child had cotton on them. The report is indicating a heinous crime. And saying that he had a disorder amounts to running away from responsibilities,” deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. “In the magisterial probe there is indication of a “heinous crime” and there is need to investigate the matter thoroughly on these grounds,” he added.

Meanwhile, District Magistrate of New Delhi district Sanjay Kumar in his magisterial probe also noted serious lapses on the part of the school administration so that they could save the “reputation of the school”. 

“I saw the body. There were some injury marks and cotton on his private parts. The principal has been threatening me since the beginning saying that keeping quiet will be good for me...,” Ramhet Meena, the boy’s father said. The aggrieved father also demanded that the licence or registration of the school be cancelled. “We are demanding CBI probe so as to know how my child reached that unapproachable place which is often locked and why would he crawl to reach that place,” claimed Meena, a paramedical staffer at AIIMS.

If sources in the police are to be believed, when the boy’s body was taken out of the tank, he was semi-naked. “He was not wearing his uniform on his lower part of the body. This indicates that there is a possibility that Devansh was sodomised before he fell or was thrown in the tank,” the source added. Confirmation of any sexual assault would be ascertained only after autopsy reports are out. “We are waiting for the reports to ascertain many facts that have popped up during the investigation,” a police official close to investigation said.