There were contradictions in the boy’s version when he was asked to narrate the sequence of events before and after Vedant’s body was found. He was always questioned either in the presence of his parents or relatives. The police are now trying to corroborate the boy’s confession with the evidence they found from the bathrooms. They claimed the boy lured his victims to the bathrooms by offering them chocolates. His cousin and two other boys are eyewitnesses, they added.

The DIG said the parents have questioned the police theory and want a CBI inquiry. Parents of both victims had given the ashram a clean chit, saying they believed the authorities who maintained that the deaths were accidental.

Meanwhile, the postmortem report cited “asphyxiation due to drowning” as Vedant’s cause of death. Ramkrishna’s report had said, “asphyxiation due to possible drowning”. A team of four experts which conducted the second postmortem saw a videography of Ramkrishna’s autopsy as well.

The ashram will remain closed for at least a week as most parents have taken their wards home.