A rap from Jharkhand High Court has prompted police to revisit Sapphire International School in Hardag, 25km from capital Ranchi, to hunt for fresh clues in the Binay Mahto murder case.

On February 7, the high court had taken strong exception to the way police had prepared the case diary in the 2016 murder of the Class VII student and had warned the DGP of a contempt notice.

Dhurwa thana OC Tarkeshwar Ram, who was present when a division bench of Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Ratnakar Bhengra had raised doubts about "the standard of the school" while hearing a PIL filed by Jharkhand Abhibhavak Manch, admitted that they were reviewing the residential campus where the 12-year-old was found fatally wounded on February 5 last year.

"I joined only last month and am not properly acquainted with the case. Yesterday (Monday), I went to the school (Sapphire) to talk to some teachers about the student's death. Though I haven't received any additional information than what is already recorded, I will continue to keep an eye on the campus as part of my routine duty," he told this newspaper on Tuesday.

Binay's father Manbahal Mahto, however, called the police exercise a baseless charade.

"The OC was pulled up by court last week; hence, this drill to train him about the case. Also, the high court has fixed February 20 as the next date of hearing the PIL, which seeks a CBI probe into my son's untimely death. Police are trying to pretend that they are doing their job. In reality, the same investigating agency (read police) revisiting the murder site after filing a charge sheet in court makes no sense," Mahto said.

After Binay's death, police had on February 10 arrested Sapphire Hindi teacher Nazia Hussain, her two minor children and husband Arif Ali Ansari, a former Sapphire teacher, on the charges of murder and tampering with evidence. The accused family is currently out on bail.