Kotkhai rape-murder: CBI court extends remand of ex-Shimla SP in custodial death case

Shimla: A special court on Tuesday extended by a day the CBI remand of former Superintendent of Police (SP) of Shimla DW Negi, arrested in the case of custodial death of an accused in the rape-and-murder of a teenage girl in Kotkhai in Himachal Pradesh.

The CBI arrested Negi on November 16 and he was produced in the court after his five-day remand expired today.

The court did not accept the plea of the CBI for extending the remand by five days. It fixed the hearing for tomorrow.

The CBI registered two cases on the direction of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in July this year to probe the rape-and-murder of the 16-year-old girl and the second related to the custodial death of an accused, Suraj Singh, arrested by the Himachal Pradesh Police.

The high court is monitoring both the cases and directed the CBI to file the charge sheet in the custodial death case by November 30.

The CBI also sought the permission of the court for voice sample tests of the eight police personnel arrested earlier and the hearing was fixed for today. However, the court deferred the hearing to November 23 as the defence lawyers did not appear in the court.

The CBI earlier arrested Inspector General of Police (IGP) Z H Zaidi, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Manoj Joshi and six other policemen in the case.

Zaidi, the then Theog DSP Joshi, the then Station House Officer of Kotkhai, one Assistant Sub-Inspector, three head constables and one constable were arrested by the CBI on August 29.

Suraj Singh, an accused in the rape-and-murder case, was killed allegedly by another accused in the case at Kotkhai police station on the intervening night of July 18 and 19, triggering a massive public outrage.

Suraj Singh, a 29-year-old labourer from Nepal, was among six people arrested by the local police.

The remaining five accused in the rape-and-murder case have been released on bail as the CBI failed to file the charge sheet within 90 days.

Zaidi was heading a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case of rape-and-murder of the minor school girl in Kotkhai area of Shimla in early July.

The case was later transferred to the CBI on the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The Class X student had gone missing on July 4 and her naked body was recovered from Haliala forests in Kotkhai on July 6.