Lone accused in Gudiya rape, murder case convicted

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 28

A CBI special court pronounced Anil alias Nilu, accused in the four-year-old Gudiya rape and murder case, guilty of charges of rape and murder of the minor schoolgirl here today. The accused pleaded not guilty.

The verdict was announced by Special Judge Rajiv Bharadwaj after hearing both defence and prosecution through video-conferencing. The quantum of sentence will be announced on May 11.

Accused Nilu, a chirani (wood-cutter) was held guilty under Sections 376 (2)(i), 376 (A), and 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the POCSO Act.

The judge said of the 14 crucial points of evidence produced by the CBI, 12 were found to be against Nilu. The most important evidence being matching of his DNA with samples found on the crime spot. The special court found the accused guilty on all four account and convicted him.

The court held a virtual hearing of the case in which the accused was presented through video-conferencing from the Kanda jail.

The judge observed that the crime was committed in a spur of moment, with Nilu making up his mind to rape and kill the victim when he encountered her in the forest while she was returning home from the school.

As per the CBI chargesheet, the accused spotted Gudiya, about 1.5 km from Dandi, on the mud path on the Dandi-Bankufar road in Kotkhai on July 4, 2017. He had an altercation with the victim after she spitted on him following which he caught hold of her and dragged her down in the forest, raped and strangulated and dumped her in a ditch, about 32 metres away from the road.

Two days later on July 6, her body was found from the Halaila forest at Kotkhai in Shimla district. The post-mortem report confirmed her rape and murder. A special investigation team was constituted and six suspects were arrested earlier of which Suraj was killed in the custody following which the High Court asked the CBI to probe both rape case and custodial death.

However, dissatisfied with CBI investigations into the Gudiya rape and murder case, the victim’s family members on October 15, 2020, filed a petition in the High Court, seeking re-investigation into the case by the CBI under the supervision of a sitting Judge of the High Court.