Bail for IPS officer Zahur Haider Zaidi in Kotkhai custodial death case

Chandigarh, October 21

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted regular bail to senior IPS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre Zahur Haider Zaidi in the Kotkhai custodial death case. Justice Arun Monga of the High Court pronounced the order in the open court. Its copy was not yet available.

Zaidi was initially granted bail by the Supreme Court vide order dated April 5, 2019. But the petitioner was put in jail on January 24, 2020, as his bail was cancelled by Special Judge, CBI court. The allegation was that Zaidi had tried to intimidate, pressurise and influence a prosecution witness and that he tried doing the same with witnesses from the police department.

The case relates to the custodial death of a man who was among those held on the allegations of gang-raping a minor school girl in Kotkhai in Shimla district in 2017.