Gudiya rape-murder: Himachal IG ZH Zaidi's suspension revoked

Shimla, January 27

The Himachal Pradesh Government has revoked the suspension of senior IPS officer ZH Zaidi, who was penalised in the 2017 Gudiya rape and murder case.

Posted as Inspector General of Police, Zaidi was placed under suspension by the previous BJP government on January 15, 2020. The action came after former Shimla SP Soumya Sambasivan told the CBI court that he was pressuring her to change her statement in the custodial death case of one of the accused, Suraj.

Following public uproar over the rape and murder of the minor girl in Kotkhai (Shimla), the government had constituted an SIT, headed by Zaidi. The SIT had arrested six persons, one of whom (Suraj) died at the Kotkhai police station on the night of July 18, 2017. Zaidi and eight others were arrested in connection with the custodial death.

The IGP was reinstated in November 2019 after he was released on bail on April 5, 2019, by the Supreme Court. The government, however, again suspended him on January 15, 2020, after Soumya Sambasivan alleged that he was pressurising her to change her statement.