Shimla: The CBI today arrested eight Himachal Pradesh Police officials, including an Inspector General, in connection with the custodial death of an accused in the Kotkhai rape and murder case.

Those arrested are Zahur H Zaidi, IG, Welfare and Administration, who headed the special investigation team (SIT) formed to probe the rape-murder of a minor; then Theog DSP Manoj Joshi and SHO Rajender Singh, ASI Deep Chand Sharma (trio also part of SIT); Head Constables Surat Singh, Mohan Lal and Rafiq Ali and Constable Ranjit Streta.

A local court later remanded them in policy custody till September 4. Suraj (29), a Nepalese labourer and one of the six accused, was allegedly killed in lock-up at the Kotkhai police station on the intervening night of July 18 and 19. The police had claimed that another accused, Raju, hit Suraj on his private parts and banged his head against the wall, which proved fatal.

Alleging a “cover-up to shield the main accused”, an irate mob had set the Kotkhai police station afire.

The 16-year-old Class X girl had gone missing while returning from school on July 4 and her naked body was recovered from Halaila forests (Kotkhai) near her village on July 6. A case of gangrape and murder was registered following a postmortem, but the police failed to identify the culprits.

The SIT was constituted on July 10 and all six “accused” were arrested within two days. Following public outrage, the government handed over the case to the CBI, which registered two FIRs on July 22. On August 24, the High Court had given the CBI two weeks to complete its probe and file a status report on September 7.  

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