Kotkhai rape and murder case: Judicial custody of police officers extended till 5 February

Shimla: A court in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday extended till 5 February the judicial custody of nine police personnel, including an IG rank officer, in connection with the custodial death of an accused in the rape-and-murder case of a minor in Kotkhai on 4 July last year. [caption id=“attachment_3942545” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] Inspector General of Police Z H Zaidi, Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Joshi and six other police officers were arrested by the CBI on 29 July for the death of Suraj in police custody. Superintendent of Police DW Negi was arrested on 16 November. Zaidi was heading a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which investigated the rape and murder of the minor in Kotkhai on July 4, whose body was found two days later. The case later came to be known as “Gudiya” rape-and-murder case. He had arrested six people in the case, but one of the accused, Suraj, died in police custody. The police had initially claimed that Raju, another accused in the case, killed Suraj. But when the High Court on 19 July handed over the case to CBI, the agency arrested Zaidi and seven other police officers. The 16-year-old girl had gone missing in the Kotkhai area on 4 July and her body was found from the Halaila forests on 6 July.