CBI officer leading Kolkata rape probe is posted in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, August 21
A CBI officer, Seema Pahuja (57), who has been assigned the investigation into the case of rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, is at present serving as Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) here.
Known for her impressive track record in solving complex cases, Pahuja has led investigations into several crimes, including the 2017 Kotkhai rape and murder, known as the “Gudiya case”. She had played a crucial role in the 2020 Hathras gangrape and the 2017 Unnao rape cases.
One of her most remarkable achievements was the conviction of the accused in the Kotkhai case. The case dates back to 2017 when a Class X student went missing on her way home from school and her body was found in the forest of Kotkhai falling two days later. She was brutally raped and strangled. The case was handed over to the CBI after the HP police failed to crack it.
The CBI solved the case using advanced DNA profiling techniques, called percentage and lineage matching, to ascertain the identity of accused. After questioning over 1,000 locals, they finally tested the DNA of over 250 people and found a match to forensic samples in the father of the accused. The culprit, Anil Kumar, who had been elusive for almost a year, was nabbed. The court found him guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021.
Pahuja was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Services.
