Haryana Police questions Ryan staffers in Mumbai, trustees elusive

A two-member team of the Haryana Police on Tuesday questioned a few staffers at Ryan International School's Kandivali headquarters here in the wake of the murder of a seven-year-old boy in its Gurugram branch.

The team visited the school premises in a quiet residential locality and questioned the staffers, mostly administrative, and examined some documents.

However, none of St Xavier's Educational Trust members -- including Augustine F. Pinto, his wife Grace Pinto and their son Ryan Pinto -- were available at the school. A Mumbai police security vehicle, some parents and media persons were present there till late in the evening.

Haryana Police's visit here comes in the wake of the murder of seven-year-old Pradhuman Thakur on September 8 at Ryan International School in Bhondsi area near Haryana's Gurugram city.

In a related development, hundreds of parents on Tuesday morning staged vociferous protests outside Ryan International School in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, and demanded steps to ensure safety and security of their children studying there.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday adjourned to Wednesday morning the hearing of the Pintos' plea for anticipatory transit bail to visit Haryana to move a court there.

Barring the Pinto family, the names, whereabouts or eligibility of other members of the trust -- that manages a majority of the group's schools -- remains unclear.

The trust was registered as a public charitable body in Maharashtra in the early 1980s.

--IANS

qn/tsb/dg