Kotkhai murder: Protest reaches Shimla’s Ridge

SHIMLA : A day after the Virbhadra government handed the Kotkhai rape and murder case to the CBI, there was no letup in the public outrage against the “botched-up” investigation by the police. Villagers staged a massive protest on The Ridge and Mall Road in Shimla even as government mulled strategies to tackle the public anger.

SHIMLA: The four youths whose photographs were widely shared on the social media wherein they were labelled as the culprits in the Kothkai rape and murder case now fear for their life.

On Saturday, they submitted a joint complaint at the Kotkhai police station seeking action against those who uploaded and shared their photos on the social media.

The compliant filed with the police, a copy of which is with HT, claims that on July 12 the police rounded up three people for questioning. However, photos of the complainants (the four youth) were shared on Facebook and WhatsApp as culprits, even though they were not linked with the case in any manner.

The complaint adds: “Ever since our photographs went viral on the social media, we are being treated as culprits . We now fear for our life. Our relatives are worried as we are exposed to danger.”

In their communiqué, the four have sought police assistance to help them in removing their photographs form the social networking sites. Their relatives have also approached the police cyberspace cell in Shimla.

CM TOO UPLOADED THEIR PHOTOS

Disturbingly enough, the photographs of the four youth were also uploaded on the Facebook page of chief minister Virbhadra Singh. However, it was removed later.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, two of the four youth were brought to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Shimla for their DNA test.