CBI arrests key suspect, sent to custody till April 25

NEWDELHI/ SHIMLA: Claiming to have solved the Kotkhai rape-cum-murder case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested a person, who was not among the six accused arrested by the local police last year.

“The accused was zeroed-in on the basis of forensic analysis of the crime spot. Investigators were looking for the accused for quite some time. Finally, he was located and arrested last night. He was produced before the court which has remanded him to CBI’s custody till April 25,” a CBI official familiar with the matter said.

With the arrest, the official claimed that the case has been cracked and said the accused had prior criminal history as well and had gone missing after committing the crime.

“We have arrested one local person in connection with Gudiya rape and murder case,” said CBI spokesperson R K Gaur, adding the accused has been taken to Delhi for interrogation.

The CBI was probing the matter since last July, after Himachal high court bench directed the agency to speed up the probe. The CBI had collected around 150 blood samples of locals and on March 29 informed the court that it close to cracking the case.

In December last year, the CBI had announced a reward of₹10 lakh for providing credible information about the accused.

Body of a Class 10 girl was found two days after she had gone missing on July 4 in Halaila area of Kotkhai in Shimla district. A special investigation team (SIT) headed by then inspector general (IG) southern range S Zahur Zaidi was setup to probe the case.

On July 12, the SIT had arrested six youth and announced the case has been solved. This led to a violent protest by locals saying the real culprits have not been arrested forcing the state government to order a CBI probe.

However, before the CBI could start the investigation, an accused Suraj (a Nepalese) died in the police custody, following which violent protests had erupted. On August 29, CBI arrested IG Zaidi and seven other cops in the custodial death case and in the same case then Shimla SP DW Negi was arrested on September 16. CBI had also submitted a charge sheet against all the accused in custodial death case.

SUSPECT WAS ARRESTED ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND TAKEN TO DELHI FOR QUESTIONING