Kotkhai case: Zaidi’s bail plea rejected

Vijay Arora

Shimla, January 19

The Himachal Pradesh High Court today rejected the bail plea of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Z H Zaidi in the case of custodial death of an accused in the rape-and-murder of a teenage girl in Kotkhai.

While rejecting the bail plea, Justice Sandeep Sharma observed that at this stage it would not be appropriate to grant bail to the petitioner. It was observed that the alleged crime is serious in nature and requires detailed probe.

Zaidi has filed this plea on the ground that the investigating agency has already filed charge sheet against him on November 26 before the trial court and now in view of this position he may be released on bail.

Zaidi, the then Theog DSP Manoj Joshi, the then SHO of Kotkhai, one assistant sub-inspector, three head constables and one constable were arrested by the CBI on August 29.

Suraj Singh, an accused in the rape-and-murder case, was allegedly killed 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 persons arrested by the local police. The remaining five accused in the case have been released on bail as the CBI failed to file the charge sheet within 90 days.

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 HP 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.