Govt reinstates accused officers Zaidi, Negi, Joshi

BACK IN BUSINESS Were suspended after a suspect in rape-and-murder of a schoolgirl was found dead at police station

THE SUSPENSION WAS REVOKED WITH EFFECT FROM NOVEMBER 16 AND NOTIFICATIONS IN THIS REGARD WERE ISSUED ON NOVEMBER 23 BY HOME DEPARTMENT

DHARAMSHALA: The Himachal Pradesh government has reinstated Indian Police Service (IPS) officers Zahur Haider Zaidi, DW Negi and Himachal Pradesh Police Service (HPAS) Manoj Joshi, who were placed under suspension for their alleged involvement in custodial death of a suspect in Kotkhai rape-and-murder.

The suspension has been revoked with effect from November 16 and notifications in this regard were issued on November 23 by the state home department. The suspension was revoked by in exercise of the powers conferred in the governor by Rule 10(5)(c) of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules 1965.

Former inspector general of police (IGP) Zaidi and Joshi, who was posted as Theog deputy superintendent of police (DSP) during the time of incident, were among eight cops arrested by the CBI on August 29, 2017 for custodial death of one of the six suspects in the rape and murder of a schoolgirl.

Negi, former Shimla senior superintendent of police (SSP), was arrested on November 16, 2017. The Supreme Court had granted bail to Zaidi on April 5 this year followed by Negi and Joshi, who were released on April 18 and April 25, respectively.

A 16-year-old girl in the Kotkhai area of Shimla went missing on her way back home on July 4, 2017.

Her body was found in woods in Bankufar, close to Halaila village, two days later. The postmortem had confirmed rape and murder and a case was registered. The incident triggered widespread protests across the state with infuriated public resorting to road blockades and angry mob torching a police station in Kotkhai.

Special investigation team (SIT) led by IGP Zaidi had arrested six accused on the basis suspicion 10 days after the crime.

One of the suspects, Suraj Singh, was found dead in custody at the Kotkhai police station on July 18. Police had claimed that Suraj died after a scuffle with another suspect in the lock-up. The case was later handed over to the CBI, which indicted nine cops for the suspect’s death.

The probe found that Suraj had died due police torture.

The CBI had arrested the SIT officers in connection with the custodial death. They were charged them with murder, wrongful confinement to extort a confession and destroying evidence. The CBI in April last year had claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of woodcutter Neelu. The agency claimed that Neelu committed the crime alone. However, two forensic experts recently testified in the court that there was possibility of involvement of more than one person in the crime.