Kotkhai rape, murder case: Judicial custody of police officers

A court in Himachal Pradesh today extended till February 5 the judicial custody of nine police personnel, including an IG rank officer, in connection with the custodial death of an accused in the rape-and-murder case of a minor in Kotkhai on July 4 last year.
Inspector General of Police Z H Zaidi, Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Joshi and six other police officers were arrested by the CBI on July 29 for the death of Suraj in police custody.
Superintendent of Police D W Negi was arrested on November 16.
Zaidi was heading a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which investigated the rape and murder of the minor in Kotkhai on July 4, whose body was found two days later.

The case later came to be known as "Gudiya" rape-and- murder case.
He had arrested six people in the case, but one of the accused, Suraj, died in police custody. The police had initially claimed that Raju, another accused in the case, killed Suraj.
But when the High Court on July 19 handed over the case to CBI, the agency arrested Zaidi and seven other police officers.
The 16-year-old girl had gone missing in the Kotkhai area on July 4 and her body was found from the Halaila forests on July 6.