IG, 7 other HP cops get life term in Kotkhai custodial death case

A special CBI court here today sentenced Himachal Pradesh Inspector General of Police Zahur Haider Zaidi and seven other police personnel to life imprisonment for the custodial death of a suspect in the 2017 Kotkhai rape-murder of a minor schoolgirl, widely known as the Gudiya case.

Advertisement

Gudiya Rape-murder that shook Himachal

• July 4, 2017: Schoolgirl goes missing on way home at Mahasu in Kotkhai (Shimla)
• July 6: The schoolgirl’s body found in Halaila forest
• July 7: Post-mortem confirms brutal murder after rape
• July 10: Himachal Govt forms SIT under IGP Zaidi
• July 13: SIT arrests five suspects, including Suraj
• July 18: Suraj dies due to torture at Kotkhai police station
• July 19: High Court transfers rape-murder, custodial death cases to the CBI
• August 29: CBI arrests 8 cops, including Zaidi
• April 11, 2021: CBI court sentences accused Nilu, a woodcutter arrested for rape-murder, to life imprisonment
• Jan 18, 2025: CBI court convicts Zaidi, 7 others cops, but acquits former Shimla SP DW Negi
• Jan 27: All 8 cops sentenced to life imprisonment

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the convicts. It directed that 90 per cent of the fine be provided to the family of the deceased.

The other jailed police personnel include then DSP Manoj Joshi, Sub-Inspector Rajinder Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector Deep Chand Sharma, Head Constables Mohan Lal, Surat Singh and Rafee Mohammad and Constable Ranjeet Steta.

“Custodial violence is a matter of great concern and one of the worst crimes in a civilised society. It impacts the credibility of the rule of law and administration of criminal justice system. In the instant case, an agitating mob set on fire the police station where the suspect died in custody. The abuse of police power is a matter of concern,” the court of Special Judge Alka Malik said while sentencing the convicts to life imprisonment. The court had convicted the eight police personnel on January 18 and the quantum of the sentence was pronounced on Monday.

All the eight were tried for murder and other charges after Nepal-origin Suraj had died at the Kotkhai police station in Shimla district.

Following massive public outcry after the schoolgirl’s rape-murder, the Himachal government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT), which was headed by 1994-batch IPS officer Zaidi. The 16-year-old girl had gone missing on her way home from school in Kotkhai on July 4, 2017. Her body was recovered from a forest on July 6 and the post-mortem confirmed rape.

The SIT arrested six persons, including Suraj, on July 13. Suraj was found dead at the police station on July 18 and the postmortem indicated injuries due to torture.

After the death, the Himachal Pradesh High Court handed over the investigations of both the rape-murder and custodial death cases to the CBI. The central agency registered an FIR on July 22 and arrested Zaidi and other police personnel for Suraj’s death.

The CBI subsequently arrested a woodcutter, Nilu, and said he was the lone accused in the girl’s rape-murder while those arrested by the SIT were innocent. In 2019, the Supreme Court transferred the custodial death case from Shimla to the CBI’s Chandigarh court for a speedy trial.

In its chargesheet, the CBI said the eight accused tortured Suraj in an attempt to extract a confessional statement. They were also accused of submitting fabricated reports to the DGP to show Suraj was killed by another suspect, Rajinder, alias Raju, in police lockup during a scuffle.

They were charged under IPC sections 302 (murder), 330 (voluntary causing hurt), 348 (wrongful confinement), 218 (framing of an incorrect record), 195 (fabricating evidence with the intent to convict someone), 196 (using false evidence as genuine evidence), 201 (destruction of evidence to protect an offender) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).