HC DISMISSES ZAIDI’S BAIL PLEA
CHANDIGARH A Punjab and Haryana high court judge on Monday dismissed the bail plea of suspended Indian Police Service officer (IPS) Zahur H Zaidi in a custodial killing case in Kotkhai of Himachal Pradesh. However, it added that the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court could not have cancelled his bail plea granted by Supreme Court. This is the third plea high court was dealing with filed by Zaidi since his bail was cancelled in January 2021 by CBI special judge, Chandigarh.
The custodial killing case is an offshoot of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Kotkhai area of Shimla district. Initially, the Himachal Police arrested six men in the case, one of whom was later found dead at the Kotkhai police station in July 2017. Subsequently, a case of custodial killing was lodged against the cops. After widespread criticism of the police’s handling of the case, it was handed over to the CBI and transferred to Chandigarh in May 2019. Six accused cops have got bail in this case except Zaidi.
Initially, Zaidi was granted bail by the Supreme Court in April 2019. However, the CBI court had cancelled the bail in January 2020 after prosecution witness and SP-rank officer Soumya Sambasivan’s statement that she had been pressured by him in an attempt to influence the trial. He was put in jail again on January 24, 2020.
This is his third plea seeking bail. Bail cancellation order was upheld by high court in May 2020.
Thereafter, he moved another plea which was withdrawn September, 2020. In this third plea he had argued that bail granted by the Supreme Court was wrongly cancelled by the trial court terming Sambasivan allegations false. He had also argued that trial has not made any headway and other accused have been granted bail.