CBI questions Himachal law officer’s ‘close relative’
NEWDELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has questioned a ‘close relative’ of a senior law officer of Himachal Pradesh in connection with Kotkhai gang rape and murder case.
“He is a suspect in the case,” said an agency official who requested anonymity.
The official added that agency sleuths so far have questioned around 100 people, suspects as well as witnesses, in the case.
“This particular suspect’s photo was uploaded on a social media account of Himachal chief minister Virbhadra Singh along with three more suspects, but was taken down within an hour,” the official said.
Another suspect whose photograph was posted on the social media account has also been questioned by the CBI.
In his post dated July 12, the chief minister wrote: “I would like to inform the people of Himachal Pradesh that four suspects have been taken into police custody and further investigation is being conducted (in the case).”
The agency is now planning to conduct a lie detector test of some of the suspects and arrested accused. It has moved the court for permission in this regard.
Police had arrested six persons in the gang rape and murder of a minor school girl whose naked body was found in isolated woods in Kotkhai tehsil’s Halaila.
The six accused were identified as management graduate and techie Ashish Chauhan, Rajinder Singh, Subash Singh Bisht, Surat Singh, Lok Jan and Deepak. Chauhan was described as one of the four suspects in a post on the CM’s social media account.
But one of the accused in the case, Suraj Singh, died in police custody in Kotkhai in mysterious circumstances. It is being suspected that Suraj Singh was murdered by another co-accused in the case.
CBI spokesman RK Gaur refused to comment saying that the investigations were on. “I have nothing to say. Every aspect related to the rape and murder is being looked into” said Gaur.
The Himachal Pradesh high court, meanwhile, has directed members of the special investigation team (SIT) and police officials associated with the investigation of rape and murder case of a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Kotkhai to file individual affidavits by August 24. NEW DELHI: The desperate bid of a Kasauli- based hotel to stay out of an NGT order directing its closure, was on Friday opposed in the Supreme Court by an NGO which claimed that the Himachal Pradesh town was “getting finished” due to unauthorised construction.
Society for Preservation of Kasauli and its Environs (SPOKE), on whose plea the NGT had ordered demolition and closure of hotels and resorts which were extended illegally, opposed the petition filed by one such hotel for stay on the verdict.
A bench of the SC was told by the NGO that if the court would allow the hotel — Kasauli Inn and Kasauli Regency — to operate, it would have “spill effect” as several such people would move the court seeking the relief.