Investigations first revealed that Pratham’s death was not a hit-and-run case and he was injured inside the van and then left on the road outside his building by the driver and owner — both have been arrested.

“Matadors and Omnis do not have the permit to ferry school children,” said Vikas Pandkar, Regional Transport Officer of the Western region. “But there is a proposal being prepared at the Transport Commissioner’s level to allow Omnis to be used as school vans.”

The transport department impounds hundreds of vehicles each year for illegally ferrying school children.

“Last year, over 800 vehicles were caught by the three RTOs in the city for clandestine operations,” a senior RTO official said.

Pratham, a junior KG student of Vivekananda School, was returning home from school on Wednesday in the private van. Nilesh Jain, his father, said the same van was being used for the last two years.

A domestic help from the locality saw the boy lying in a pool of blood outside the building and it was initially thought that he had been hit by a vehicle, probably by the van while it was reversing in a hurry.

But Borivali police, after questioning a five-year-old girl who was also in the van, said that Pratham suffered an injury to the right side of his head behind the ear when the driver braked hard which caused the vehicle to jump.

Police said the bleeding boy was lifted out of the van and left outside his building on the road. The 23-year-old driver of the van, Vinay Kumar Jaiswal, and owner Bhavini Madani (32) were arrested on Friday. The van, described by police as “scrap on wheels”, has been seized by Borivali police.

Investigating officer Prakash Pawar said the police would approach the RTO to inspect the condition of the vehicle. “Presently, our priority is the case and not the vehicle … we will write to the RTO,” he said.

Pawar had earlier said that the vehicle was not fit for children as there were pointed surfaces, modified rexin seating to accommodate more children and no handles or support bars for the children to rest.

Pratham’s father said many children in his locality used the van. Asked whether he was aware of the unsafe condition of the vehicle, he replied: “I never went to drop Pratham to the van, but my wife knew.”

He said the only thing that mattered now is to see the two accused, Vinay Kumar Jaiswal and Bhavini Madani, confess that they left the bleeding boy outside his building to die.