Judicial custody of IG Zaidi, others extended till May 17

SHIMLA:A local court here on Monday extended the judicial custody of inspector general of police (IGP) Zahur Zaidi, former Shimla superintendent of police (SP) DW Negi and seven other cops in the custodial death of an accused in the Kotkhai rape and murder case till May 17.

The CBI court in Shimla on April 10 had directed the Central bureau of Investigation (CBI) to provide the call details to the arrested SIT members in the case.

The cops had earlier urged the court to provide them their call details obtained by the CBI. However, the CBI had told the court that it could not be divulged as it was a part of the investigation.

Meanwhile, the cops on Monday informed the court that the cellular company denied providing them the call details and had said it would provide the details to the court only. Following which the court said the firm will be asked to submit details before court.

Earlier, on November 25, CBI had filed a charge sheet in the lower court against Zaidi and seven other cops.

“After the formation of the SIT, the then IG, Zahur Zaidi, Shimla superintendent of police (SP) DW Negi, Theog deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Manoj Joshi and other accused police officers had entered into a criminal conspiracy to falsely implicate Suraj Singh and others in the Kotkhai rape and murder case,” read the CBI’s November 25 charge sheet, which was filed against eight cops, including Zaidi.

According to the chargesheet, the SIT had arrested Suraj and four others on July 13 - a week after the girl’s body was found even though there was no evidence against them.

Other than Zaidi and Negi, CBI had arrested DSP Manoj Joshi, sub-inspector Rajinder Singh, the head of the Kotkhai police station, assistant sub-inspector Deep Chand, head constables Rafee Mohammad, Mohan Lal, Surat Singh and Ranjeet Streta.

As per the high court’s July 19, 2017 order, CBI had registered two cases and taken over the investigation in Kotkhai rape and murder case. On July 6 last year, a naked body of school girl was found in Halaila forest of Kotkhai and after medical examination it was ascertained that she was raped before murder.