Women panel report puts HP govt, police in dock

SHIMLA: The National Commission for Women (NCW) report on the Kotkhai rape and murder case of a minor school girl has put the Himachal Pradesh government in dock over the ‘shoddy’ police investigation in the custodial death.

The report raises questions on the role of special investigation team (SIT) constituted by the state government to probe the case. In a detailed report, the commission has narrated the sequence of events after the victim’s body was found in the forest area at Hilali village in Shimla district’s Kotkhai tehsil on July 6, this year.

The commission questioned police over investigation that claimed that the victim had died on July 4, after she went missing from school on her way back home.

The reports points towards cops acting under political pressure and hints towards the involvement of high-profile people with political connections.

The forty page report also mentions missing links in the police probe and states as to how police had tried to mislead the fact-finding committee.

NCW member Sushma Sahu, during her visit to Shimla, had met Mamta, wife of Suraj, who had died in the police lock up in Kotkhai on July 19.

Mamta has been accusing the police of torturing her husband.The autopsy conducted by police at Indira Gandhi Medical College mentioned that Suraj had died of multiple injuries, while the top police officials, during a press conference, had denied what they termed as ‘third degree.’

Suraj was arrested by the police along with five others — Deepak, Lok Jan, Surat Singh Bisht, Ashish Chauhann, Rajinder — on July 12. The report has made serious comments on the SIT and accused it of making attempts to tamper evidences that could have proved crucial in solving the case. “The report has been submitted to the ministry concerned,” said Sahu.

The CBI had arrested SIT head Zahur Zaidi and seven other policemen for the custodial death of Suraj. It had summoned the former district police chief DW Negi to Delhi and questioned him for several hours. Negi, who was removed as the superintendent of police (SP) Shimla, was questioned about delay in the probe.

Negi, who is close to chief minister Virbhadra Singh, was asked about the pictures of youth that were uploaded on the CM’s Facebook page.

Besides Negi, two other policemen, additional SP Bhajan Dev Negi and deputy SP Rattan Singh Negi, were summoned to Delhi for questioning. Both Bhajan and Rattan were members of the SIT.

Sahu had visited Kotkhai and Hilaila village after the rape and murder of the girl and the custodial death of Nepalese national Suraj. She refused to share details of the report citing the sensitivity of the case.

Arrested cops to be produced in court

All eight policemen arrested by the CBI for custodial death Suraj will be produced before the district judge on Monday.

The CBI had arrested eight policemen on August 29 and later shifted them to Delhi for questioning, as the premier agency had claimed that the state government is not cooperating in the investigation.

Those arrested included inspector general of police welfare Zahur Zaidi, deputy SP Theog Manoj Joshi,who was the supervisory officer of Kotkhai police station, Rajinder Singh, assistant sub-inspector Deep Chand Sharma, head constables Surat Singh, Mohan Lal, Rafiq Ali and constable Ranjit Singh

THE NCW REPORT POINTS TOWARDS COPS ACTING UNDER POLITICAL PRESSURE AND INVOLVEMENT OF HIGHPROFILE PEOPLE WITH POLITICAL CONNECTIONS