ACCUSED WAS MOURNING DAUGHTER’S DEATH

SHIMLA:Little did Suraj’s children know what fate had in store when the cops arrested the Nepalese national on July 13.

Suraj was allegedly strangled by another suspect, Rajendra Singh, during a scuffle at the Kotkhai police station on Tuesday night. The duo were among the six men arrested for the gangrape and murder of a 16-year-old girl, whose naked body was found near her house inKotkhai tehsil’s Halaila village on July 6.

Hailing from Bajuara district in Nepal, Suraj had for the past four years worked as a daily wager with a leading orchardist in Kotkhai tehsil’s Haliavillage.

“He was an ordinary labourer like us,” said Janak Bahadur, a relative of Suraj, adding that the deceased’s five-year-old daughter Kaali had died on Diwali night last year.

“How could a man who was in mourning since his daughter’s death nine months ago be involved in a ghastly crime like this?” he asked.

Kaali died of jaundice last year. Suraj is survived by his 25-yearold wife Mamta, daughter Asha and son Shubam, who live with him in Kotkhai. Janak is now worried about Suraj’s wife and daughter, who were picked up by the policefor identifying Suraj, from Kotkhai bazaar.

Suraj’s body was taken from Kotkhai to Shimla’s Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) for autopsy, even as people protested on the national highway connecting Parwanoo to Narkanda. His body reached IGMC around 5 pm, amid a large crowd and a battery of mediamen waiting anxiously at the IGMC.