Shimla gang-rape case: Angry mob ransacks, sets Kotkhai police station on fire

Shimla: In a shocking incident that took place in Shimla's Kotkhai, an angry mob set ablaze a police station on Wednesday afternoon. 

The incident took place when angry villagers pelted stone and protested outside the Kotkhai police station after one of the six accused in gang-rape and murder of a minor girl died in police custody on Tuesday night. 

The main suspect in the case Raju killed another suspect Suraj Singh by smashing his head on the floor in the Kotkhai jail. Suraj, a Nepalese, was one of the suspects in the case. 

Meanwhile, tension mounted in the area following the murder of the suspect after which irate mob forcibly entered the police station and ransacked it. 

While struggling to control the situation, the police personnel fired in the air to disperse the mob that had gathered outside the police station. 

On July 4, a 16-year-old girl was raped and murdered at the Kotkhai area of Shimla district after she was offered a lift in a car by a group of people. Her body was recovered from the nearby Halila forest two days later.

A massive protest began in Kotkhai area of Shimla almost a week back that has refused to die down till now.

Succumbing to public pressure, the Himachal government on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case that has seen massive public outrage with a mob vandalising police vehicles outside the Theog police station. Calling the six arrests an 'eyewash', the crowd was demanding a CBI probe.

On July 13, the Himachal Pradesh Police had claimed a breakthrough in the rape and murder of a minor school girl whose naked body was found in isolated woods in Kotkhai tehsil’s Halaila village.

Later, the police arrested at least six accused in connection with the case and produced them before a court in Theog. They were sent to a seven-day police remand.