Custodial death: Himachal IGP, 7 other cops get life imprisonment

NEW DELHI: A CBI court in Chandigarh sentenced Himachal Pradesh inspector general (IG) of Police Zahur Haider Zaidi and seven other police personnel to life imprisonment on Monday. The sentence follows their involvement in the custodial death of an accused in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old schoolgirl in Shimla's Kotkhai in 2017.

The convicted police officers include the then deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Manoj Joshi, sub-inspector Rajinder Singh, assistant sub-inspector Deep Chand Sharma, head constables Mohan Lal, Surat Singh, and Rafee Mohammad, along with Constable Ranjit Sateta.

During the sentencing hearing, the counsels for the convicts sought leniency, citing their age, family responsibilities, and good service records.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the convicts.

Earlier, on January 18, the Special CBI court convicted the eight police officers in the case related to the custodial death of Suraj, who was found dead at the Kotkhai police station on July 18, 2017. Special judge Alka Malik presided over the case.

The convicted officials were found guilty under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession), 348 (wrongful confinement), and 195 (giving false evidence), according to CBI public prosecutor Amit Jindal.

The case stems from the death of Suraj, who was accused in the rape and murder of the 16-year-old girl. The girl had gone missing on July 4, 2017, and her body was discovered two days later. The post-mortem confirmed that she had been raped and murdered, leading to a case being filed.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Zaidi, was formed by the state government to investigate the case. The SIT arrested six people, including Suraj, who died in police custody. The police had initially registered an FIR against another accused, Rajinder, in the girl’s murder.

The Himachal Pradesh high court later transferred both cases to the CBI for further investigation. After an inquiry, the CBI arrested Zaidi, Joshi, and the other police officers involved in Suraj’s custodial death.

The CBI chargesheeted the accused officials for various offenses, including criminal conspiracy, murder, fabrication of false evidence, and torture during custody to extract a confession.

In May 2019, the Supreme Court transferred the case related to the custodial death from Shimla to Chandigarh.

The court also acquitted the then Superintendent of Police, DW Negi, in connection with the case.