Gudiya case: 8 police personnel including former IG sentenced to life imprisonment in Suraj murder case
Guilty policemen including former IG
Shimla, January 27: The CBI court of Chandigarh on Monday gave a historic verdict in the case of murder of Suraj in the lockup related to the much talked about Gudiya rape and murder case in Kotkhai of Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh in 2017. The court has sentenced 8 police officers and employees, including former IG Zahoor Haider Zaidi, found guilty in this case, to life imprisonment. Along with this, a fine of one lakh rupees each has also been imposed on all the convicts.
On Monday morning, the court heard the final arguments of the convicts, after which the verdict was pronounced. This is probably the first such case in the history of Himachal Pradesh, when an SIT team, which was formed for investigation, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
List of convicts
On January 18, the CBI court convicted Zaidi, then DSP Manoj Joshi, Sub Inspector Rajindra Singh, ASI Deep Chand Sharma, Head Constable Mohan Lal, Surat Singh, Rafi Mohammad and Constable Ranjit Sateta on the basis of witness statements and evidence. All of them were booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 338, 348, 195, 196, 218 and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC. All the convicts are currently lodged in Budail Jail.
Convicted on January 18
The CBI court convicted all of them on January 18. The court took this decision on the basis of witness statements, evidence and arguments of all the parties. Shimla’s then SP D.W. Negi was acquitted due to lack of evidence. After the verdict, all the accused were taken into custody and sent to Chandigarh’s Burail jail.
This was the whole case
This case started after the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl student on July 4, 2017. The girl student’s body was found naked in the Tandi forest of Kotkhai. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed under the leadership of the then IG Zaidi to investigate the case. The team arrested seven people, including Nepali citizen Suraj.
On July 18, 2017, Suraj died under suspicious circumstances in the custody of Kotkhai police station. The post-mortem report and other evidence revealed that Suraj died due to police brutality. After this incident, the state government and the police had to face severe criticism.
On the orders of the High Court, the case was handed over to the CBI. The investigation revealed that Suraj was murdered in police custody and the policemen had hatched a conspiracy for this. After this, in August 2017, the CBI arrested Zaidi, Joshi and other policemen. During the investigation and hearing, Zaidi was also accused of threatening witnesses.
Zaidi was kept in Kanda Jail in Shimla for 582 days and was released on bail from the Supreme Court in April 2019. Zaidi was suspended in August 2017. However, he was reinstated in 2019. In 2020, the BJP government suspended him again, but in January 2023, the Congress government reinstated his services and in September 2023, he was also given posting.
The main accused in the Gudiya murder case has already been sentenced
Anil alias Neelu, the main accused in the Gudiya murder case, has also been sentenced to life imprisonment. On June 18, 2021, the special court in Shimla found him guilty of raping and murdering a minor. Anil was arrested by the CBI in April 2018.
It is worth noting that Suraj was murdered in the lockup of Kotkhai police station 14 days after the Gudiya murder case. The police had blamed another accused for this murder, which led to great public outrage. Angry people had set Kotkhai police station and several vehicles on fire.