Court accepts CBI closure report in Ruchika brother torture case

A CBI court on Friday accepted the closure report filed by the CBI that says there's no evidence to prove that the brother of Ruchika Girhotra -- a minor girl who committed suicide after alleged molestation by former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore -- was tortured in custody or that the signatures of her father had been forged on her post-mortem report.

The development, which came after the family raised no objection to the closure report, has given significant relief to Rathore, who is currently out on bail after his conviction on molestation charge.

Ruchika's brother Ashu and father SC Girhotra, resident of Sector 12A here, expressed no objections as they appeared before the court on Friday.

It was on April 4 that the court had issued notices to the father-son, but the earlier notices reportedly could not reach them.

The CBI had filed the closure reports in these two cases in 2010, and the duo's appearance was required for seeking their view.

In his original complaint, Ashu had alleged that a false case of auto theft was slapped on him at the behest of Rathore and he was brutally tortured by Haryana police.

But the CBI closure report said there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations. The report added that the shopkeepers of the Sector-6 market had neither heard nor seen Ashu being paraded by the police in half-naked condition with handcuffs in December 1993, as had been alleged.

The report also took note of the fact that Ashu had made a disclosure statement admitting to theft of nine vehicles.