Violent protests took place on Saturday outside the Ryan International school here over the brutal murder of a seven-year-old student, demanding the culprits are arrested and strict action taken against the school management.

Pradhuman, a Class 2 student, was found dead on Friday by a school staffer in the washroom with his throat slit. A knife, presumably the murder weapon, was found near the body.

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An angry mob on Saturday broke the lock of the school’s main gate. Nobody from either the local administration or the Manohar Lal Khattar government was available for comment.

The principal of the school in Bhondsi has been suspended, informed sources said. An independent investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation or a High Court judge has been demanded.

The protesters, including Pradhuman’s parents, demonstrated outside the office of the Commissioner of Police on Sohna Road and demanded the arrest of the “real culprit”.

Protests were also held outside a hospital on the Mehrauli-Gurugram (MG) road where the child’s body was lying after the autopsy on Friday.

Police sources said the parents of the boy refused to accept the body and said the cremation would only be held after the culprits were caught.

Forensic expert Deepak Mathur, who conducted the post-mortem, said: “The deceased had two cuts on his neck. His throat almost completely slit. Haemorrhage and excessive blood loss caused the death.”

The family has alleged that the police was favouring the management of the school, located some 13 km from Gurugram city on Sohna Road.

“How can a little child be brutally murdered, when his father left him inside the school premises… The real culprits must be behind the bars,” said a protestor.

Police late on Friday arrested Ashok Kumar, a conductor of one of the school’s buses.

The victim’s mother has called for the immediate arrest of the principal.

Several protests over the murder were held all over the city and traffic was disrupted in many parts.

Part of busy Delhi-Jaipur highway, Alwar-Sohna road and a few arterial roads were blocked.

The boy’s family resides in Maruti Kunj Society in the same area. Pradhuman’s father is a senior executive with an export house in the Kherki Daula area. The victim’s sister is a Class 5 student in the same school

The boy reached the school hardly an hour before he was found dead. The police had questioned several Class IV staff like sweeper, gardener, bus driver and conductor, before arresting Kumar.

So far no one from the school has commented on the murder.