Former Shimla SP held in rape-murder case

New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday arrested D.W. Negi, former superintendent of police of Shimla, in connection with the custodial death of an accused in the gangrape and murder case of a schoolgirl in Shimla in July. The rape-and-murder of the Class 10 student in Kotkhai area of Shimla district on July 4 had sparked an outrage. Her body was recovered from a nearby forest two days later.

Sources said Negi was arrested from the state and has been sent to their custody till November 20. The SP is the ninth person to be arrested in this case by the CBI. The agency, sources said, is also expected to file a charge sheet in the case very soon.

The CBI had in August arrested eight Himachal Pradesh Police officials, including Inspector General Z H Zaidi, in connection with the custodial death of Suraj Singh, a 29-year-old labourer from Nepal.

Singh, who was a suspect in the rape and murder case of the a minor school girl, was among six people arrested by the local police. He was allegedly killed by a co-accused at the Kotkhai police station few days after his arrest, triggering a massive public outrage.

The CBI, which was later handed over the probe into the case by the Himachal Pradesh high court, questioned several people before arresting Zaidi, a 1994-batch IPS officer, the then IGP (South), Manoj Joshi, the then Deputy Superintendent of Police, and six other police officials. The Himachal Pradesh Police had arrested Ashish Chauhan alias Ashu (29), a resident of Sharaal village in Mahasu area of Kotkhai, Rajender Singh alias Raju (32), a driver — Subash Singh Bisht (42) and Deepak alias Deepu (29), both residents of Pauri Garwal, Suraj Singh (29) and Lok Jung alias Chotu (19), both hailing from Nepal.