Shimla: Serious flaws being picked up in the police investigation of the Kotkhai rape, murder case has forced the government to hand over the investigation to Central Bureau of Investigation.
A government spokesman, a little while ago, stated that the government has decided to hand over the investigation to CBI.
“The matter is being referred to the CBI,” the spokesman said.
Earlier in the day, crowds swooned on the police station at Theog and there are even reports about some police vehicles having been damaged by the protesters.
Those differing with the police investigation are even citing a Facebook post made on the official page of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh that had publicly declared arrest of 4 suspects in the gruesome rape, murder case on 11th July and have even uploaded their pictures.
The post and the pictures were later deleted.
The police version has also come under questioning as on Thursday (13.7.2017) morning through a press release the police had announced a breakthrough in the blind murder case by declaring the arrest of one person.
Later in the evening, the Director General of Police Somesh Goel before the media laid claim that the case had been solved and 6 persons had been arrested for the crime.
“We have technical, circumstantial and scientific evidences against all the six arrested,” DGP Somesh Goel had said.
The police version has been questioned over the spot where the crime is reported to have taken place.
Silence of the political leadership from Jubbal and Kotkhai, the chief minister and even the investigating police officers over the enormity of the crime in the first few days after it was reported has also come into questioning.
Apprehensions about a cover up of sheltering well connected people who were the suspects at the early stage of the crime and laying the blame on Nepali labourers and other working people is also doing the rounds.
Naked body of a the young school girl found in a jungle in Kotkhai on July 6 had sparked outrage, forcing the police to constitute a special investigation (SIT) team after no clues about the crime turned up in the initial days of investigation.
Headed by Inspector General of Police Zahur Zaidi, the SIT team had yesterday claimed to have arrested the culprits.
An autopsy carried out on the victims body showed that she was sexually assaulted before having been killed by strangulation.
The initial clues of the investigation were provided by a class mate of the victim who told the investigators that the victim boarded a vehicle after leaving school.
Based on the electronic trail left behind at the two mobile phone towers in the vicinity of the crime, the police checked the call details of 28 persons and questioned 84 people during the investigation.
“It was a difficult case to solve as none of the accused had a past crime history. The victims body was found lying in a jungle, it was traced two days after the crime was committed, there was no eye witness and there was virtually no clue left behind that could lead to the criminals,” DGP Goyal had stated.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
