Remember the detective games we played as kids? The ones where we used to analyse who had the motive to kill the victim. It seems, we have lost a lot of it growing up but because let's face it, we all believed that the conductor was the murderer in Ryan International School student Pradyuman's case in Delhi.
Why? Because that's the easiest answer. "The murder is the helper, the butler or the sweeper" — might have been the easiest summary.
This is not the first time that we made such an assumption. Remember the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar? The first and, mind you, the most prominent accused was Hemraj, the domestic help, till police found his body on the roof.
Don't believe us?
#1 The day after Aarushi Talwar's body was found, the police pinned the blame on Hemraj, the domestic help, and even went on to announce a Rs 20,000 reward for information about his whereabouts - though his guilt was yet to be proven or established. In the Ryan International murder, the Haryana cops arrested the conductor within 24 hours and beat a confession out of him in 48. Bizarre, huh?
#2 In the panic that spread across NCR (and India by extension) after the Aarushi, maids and domestic help were background-checked and given the third degree by the employing classes. After the Ryan arrest, bus drivers and conductors were put through the same ordeal in a guilty-until-proven-otherwise situation. What a way to live!
#3 Though they're out now (and speaking on Hotstar, no less) the Talwars enjoyed widespread sympathy even after the police dragged them in as potential suspects and psychologists opined that they were 'educated, well-respected people' being railroaded by the cops. In the Ryan case, the schoolmate who was finally arrested for the murder of the 7-year-old is being looked at with quite a bit of sympathy and disbelief. Surely it must be the conductor, people are saying. We rest our case
Ring any bells?