The Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday allowed the bail plea of former Himachal Pradesh Inspector General of Police Zahur Haider Zaidi, who is currently in jail along with nine others in the Kotkhai police station custodial death case.
Zaidi is presently suspended and has been lodged in Chandigarh’s Burail Jail for nearly three years. The case is currently being heard by a CBI court after it was transferred by the Supreme Court.
On July 4, 2017, at Kotkhai, a minor girl went missing after school hours from the Haliala forest. Her naked body was found in the forest on July 6 and the post-mortem report confirmed rape. An FIR was registered at the Kotkhai police station and an SIT was formed to probe the murder case headed by Zaidi.
The SIT on July 13 arrested accused Suraj Singh, along with four others for allegedly committing the crime. Meanwhile, on the night of July 18, Singh died in custody after allegedly being tortured by the Himachal Police SIT.
On July 22, following the directions of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, the custodial death case was transferred to the CBI which booked the nine policemen, including Zaidi, and filed a chargesheet.
However, in November 2018, the accused moved the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the case from Shimla to any other state for the trial.
The CBI prosecutor also submitted at the Supreme Court that the case “has not seen the light of the day” and hence, the case be transferred to a Delhi court for expeditious disposal, and moreover Zaidi, being the former IGP, may influence the witnesses in the case. The Supreme Court granted bail to Zaidi, and transferred the custodial death case to Chandigarh CBI Court from Shimla, in May 2019.
At the Chandigarh CBI Court, a total of 28 witnesses have been examined till date out of the total of 107 witnesses. The eight other policemen, including Superintendent of Police D W Negi, DSP Theog Manoj Joshi, former Kotkhai Station House Officer (SHO) Rajinder Singh, ASI Deep Chand, who was investigating officer of the case, head constables Surat Singh, Mohan Lal and Rafee Mohammad, and Constable Ranjit Steta are facing a trial.
All the accused are currently out on bail.
Zaidi was represented by senior advocate Vinod Ghai with advocates Sanjeev Kodan and Kanika Ahuja in the high court.
