Himachal IGP among 8 cops convicted in Kotkhai custodial death case

A CBI court in Chandigarh on Saturday convicted eight cops, including 1994-batch IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre IG Zahur Haider Zaidi, in Kotkhai custodial death case of 2017. Among the convicts are DSP Manoj Joshi, the then station house officer (sub-inspector) Rajinder Singh, ASI Deep Chand Sharma, head constables Mohan Lal, Surat Singh and Rafee Mohammad and constable Ranjeet Steta. Out on bail, they were taken into judicial custody after the judgment was pronounced. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on January 27.

One of the accused, former SP Dandub Wangial Negi alias DW Negi has been acquitted of all charges. The families of all eight police officers/officials broke down in court when the orders were pronounced by the CBI court of special judge Alka Malik. As police took them into judicial custody, additional force was called for security arrangements.

IG Zahur Haider Zaidi was suspended after the registration of FIR against him. His suspension was revoked in January 2023 by the Himachal Pradesh Governor.

On July 4, 2017, a 16-year-old class X girl went missing in Kotkhai. Her body was discovered in a forest two days later. The post-mortem confirmed rape and murder, leading to a public outcry. The state government constituted a special investigation team (SIT), led by IG Zahur Haider Zaidi, which arrested six suspects, including four Nepalese men and two men from Uttarakhand 10 days after the crime. Suraj Singh, one of the Nepalese suspects, was found dead in police custody at the Kotkhai police station on July 18, 2017.

Following his death, the HP high court handed over the investigations of both the gangrape and custodial death cases to the CBI. The CBI’s investigation revealed that Suraj Singh was tortured in custody to extract a confession. Medical reports indicated over 20 injuries on his body, which were corroborated by a board of AIIMS doctors.

As per the prosecution, the accused officers reportedly fabricated evidence and submitted false reports, claiming that Suraj was killed by another accused, Rajinder alias Raju, in police lockup.

While there were over 100 witnesses, the prosecution had examined 52 witnesses in court to prove the case.

In 2019, the Supreme Court transferred the custodial death case from Shimla to Chandigarh for an expedited trial. The chargesheet filed by the CBI detailed the alleged torture, destruction of evidence and submission of false reports by the accused.

Strong circumstantial evidence in the form of digital phone recordings of the police officers on the day Suraj died in police custody was strong evidence put forward by CBI in court.

Statements of a key prosecution witness, police constable Dinesh, who was then posted as guard (santry duty), were recorded by CBI as evidence in court. The accused police officers had pressurised constable Dinesh to toe the line of seniors and forced him to sign the complaint containing false/ concocted story so as to make it part of the case.

During the inquiry, the DSP examined constable Dinesh, who disclosed the truth by giving entire sequence of events relating to death of Suraj during custodial torture. The DSP recorded the statement of constable Dinesh on his mobile phone but did not report the same to the DGP in his report and despite having knowledge with regard to the real facts, supported the version of false/concocted FIR that Suraj was killed in police lockup by Rajinder alias Raju. These statements were put before the court as evidence in the form of digital recordings.