Kotkhai rape: Himachal High Court recalls order asking CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma to appear before it

Source – indianexpress.com

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday recalled its earlier order directing CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma to appear before it in connection with the rape and murder of a minor girl in Kotkhai. The court asked the central investigation agency to file its final status report on May 29.

The case was listed before a special bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma, who accepted the affidavit filed by the CBI director. Verma informed the court that the CBI cracked the 10-month-old case and one person was arrested. He also assured the Court that the chargesheet in the case will be filed by July 11 — well within 90 days of the accused arrest.

At a previous hearing on April 25, though the CBI had informed about the arrest of one person, the Court insisted that the CBI director should file an affidavit stating the progress of the case.

Nikhil Goyal, the CBI counsel, today mentioned before the bench about compliance of the court order as an affidavit was filed on May 2. He sought a recall of the March 28 order wherein the director was summoned to the court on May 9.

Allowing the affidavit and also the CBI plea, the Bench asked Goyal to keep the court informed on the progress of the case, to which the counsel agreed.

A 16-year-old school girl went missing on July 4 while returning home from school. Two days later her body was founded dumped in the forests of Halaila (Kotkhai). The postmortem and forensic examination had revealed that she was raped and later murdered.

The case was transferred to the CBI by the High Court following massive protests and violence in Kotkhai and Theog areas.

The state police had arrested six persons in the case, one of whom was killed in custody. The CBI, after taking over the case, had arrested eight policemen including IGP Zahur Zaidi, who headed the SIT. All of them including former SP Shimla D W Negi are facing murder charges for custodial death of one of the accused. The other five accused are out on bail.