Himachal police cooked up proof to implicate men: CBI
SHIMLA: A Himachal Pradesh police special investigation team (SIT) cooked up evidence to falsely implicate a Nepalese man and four others in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl at Kotkhai in July, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The central probe agency has also accused the SIT, headed by inspector general of police (IG) Zahur Zaidi, of a cover-up following the death of the Nepalese national, Suraj Singh, in police custody on July 18.
The accusations against the SIT are a part of the CBI’S charge sheet filed before Shimla district court on November 25.
“After the formation of SIT, IG Zahur Zaidi, the then Shimla SP DW Negi, Theog DSP Manoj Joshi and other accused police officers entered into a criminal conspiracy to falsely implicate Suraj Singh and others,” reads the CBI charge sheet.
The CBI has so far arrested nine police officers, including Zaidi, Negi and Joshi, in the case.
According to the charge sheet, the SIT arrested Singh and four others on July 13 — a week after the girl’s body was found — even though there was no evidence against them. The CBI also noted that Singh was tortured to “extract” a confession, and another man was forced at gunpoint to admit to his involvement.
After taking over probe following a Himachal Pradesh high court order, the CBI re-examined Singh’s body in the presence of experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, on July 25. The report revealed Singh’s injuries were sustained in time intervals ranging from about two days to two hours prior to his death.
“The injuries produced on Suraj’s body were sustained by a blunt hard cylindrical object such as ‘lathi’. The medical board also rules out the possibility of sustaining injury in a scuffle with another individual,” states the charge sheet.
On alleged destruction of evidence related to Singh’s death, the charge sheet states the SIT “made false entries in police records and also submitted false and fabricated reports” to state police chief that another man, Rajinder, they had arrested in the case “killed Suraj in the lock up at Kotkhai police station”. The four others arrested are out on bail.
Widespread protests rocked the hill state after the rape and murder of the Class 10 student, whom the state media and locals gave the name Gudiya.