Himachal HC sends summons to CBI chief over Kotkhai rapemurder probe
SHIMLA: Dissatisfied with the investigation in the Kotkhai rape and murder case, the Himachal Pradesh high court on Wednesday summoned the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Alok Kumar Verma and asked him to be present during the next hearing on April 18.
The CBI on Wednesday sought three months time to complete the investigation. The probe agency said it needed more time to analyse some new reports and unearth facts. The double bench comprising acting chief justice Sanjay Karol and justice Sandeep Sharma said the CBI investigation into the case hasn’t borne any fruitful results so far.
The court said the heinous crime shook the sentiments of people of the state and another heinous crime (custodial death of accused) shook the faith of people in the police. “Perhaps the investigation agency is clueless in this case. Despite all facilitation, no fruitful result has come so far,” the bench said.
In July 2017, the HC bench had asked CBI to speed up the probe. The high court had directed the state to provide assistance to the probe agency, which has been investigating Kotkhai gang rape and murder case along with the custodial death of an accused. On December 15 last year, CBI had announced a reward of ₹10 lakh for providing c information about the accused.
On July 4, a Class 10 girl had gone missing and her body was recovered on July 6 from Halaila forest in Kotkhai of Shimla district. The medical reports confirmed rape. A SIT headed by then IG southern range S Zahur Zaidi was set up to probe the case.
On July 12, the SIT detained six youngsters and claimed to have solved the case. However, one of the accused, a Nepalese national, died in police custody.
On July 14, the locals staged protests, stating that the arrest of the six men was a cover-up. UGC says its new reservation formula, issued on March 5, is in response to a direction of the Allahabad high court in April 2017.
Hearing a case on hiring teachers at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the high court said that each department, rather than the entire university, should be treated as a “unit” to form a basis for reservation.
The court struck down the UGC’S institution-wise reservation policy to fill vacant faculty positions, saying there are departments without SC or ST teachers.
On the directions of the humanresourcedevelopment (HRD) ministry, a UGC-APpointed committee examined 10courtjudgmentsonthesubject and recommended that Allahabadhcrulingshouldbe applied to all universities. Followingthis,theugcissuedthe March directive.
THE HC BENCH SAYS CBI OFFICIALS HAD WORKED ON THE CASE BUT PROBE BEARS NO FRUITFUL RESULT