Judicial remand of IGP,7 cops in custodial death case extended

Shimla:  A special CBI court today extended up to October 23 the judicial remand of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Z H Zaidi, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Manoj Joshi and six other policemen in the case of custodial death of an accused in the rape-and-murder of a teenage girl in Kotkhai in Himachal Pradesh.

The accused were produced in the court through video- conferencing and the CBI judge extended their remand. Zaidi, the then Theog DSP Joshi, the then Staton House Officer of Kotkhai, one Assistant Sub-Inspector, three head constables and one constable were arrested by the CBI on August 29.

The judicial remand of the accused was extended for the fourth time today as the CBI did not file the charge sheet. The CBI also conducted narco test on the accused, but the report was awaited. Suraj Singh, an accused in the rape-and-murder case, was killed allegedly by another accused in the case at Kotkhai police station on the intervening night of July 18 and 19, triggering a massive public outrage.

Suraj Singh, a 29-year-old labourer from Nepal, was among six people arrested by the local police. Zaidi was heading a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case of rape-and-murder of the minor school girl in Kotkhai area of Shimla in early July. The case was later transferred to the CBI on the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The Class X student had gone missing on July 4 and her naked body was recovered from Haliala forests in Kotkhai on July 6.