Story of shaky probe, shoddy political response

who “cracked” the case nine days later with the arrest of six people – including Ashish Chauhan, an engineering graduate, and 32-year-old Rajendra Singh, a local. The other accused were non-Himachalis, and strangely enough, they hadn’t fled.

Zaidi’s version further infuriated people, who alleged that the six were framed to protect influential locals closely linked to the ruling dispensation. CM Virbhadra Singh initially resisted calls for a CBI investigation but buckled when an unruly crowd burnt police vans and blocked highways last week.

The crisis reached a tipping point on Wednesday, when Suraj Singh – a Nepalese national accused – was reportedly strangled by another suspect, 32-yearold Rajender Singh, at the Kotkhai police station. What happened at the station remains a mystery because the two were housed in adjacent cells.

While 83-year-old Virbhadra blamed the BJP for causing the unrest, he failed to read the sentiments of a population that has traditionally supported him. Making things worse was his apparent disinterest in the worst crime to be reported from the hills in a long time.

Another factor that has angered most Himachalis is the failure of liberal voices in Delhi to take note of Gudiya’s rape-cummurder despite all the online campaigns and petitions. They believe this crime was no less brutal than the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, and the only reason for the lack of outrage was the accounting for just four Lok Sabha seats – making it less politically significant.