Five persons arrested for their alleged involvement in the Kotkhai schoolgirl rape and murder case were released on bail by the the District and Sessions Court here on Tuesday.
The court granted bail to the accused after the CBI failed to produce a charge sheet even after 90 days of their police and judicial custody.
The accused should furnish a bail bond of Rs one lakh each within a week.
One of the accused Ashish Chauhan was given the bail on Monday on the similar grounds. The four accused who were released today belonged to Uttarakhand and Nepal. They were arrested after the heinous murder and rape of a class 10 student of Kotkhai in anterior Shimla in the month of July. One of the accused, Suraj a Nepalese died suspiciously in the police custody on July 19 and the local police blamed a co-accused Rajender Singh for killing him.
But interestingly when the case was handed over to the CBI at the instance of High Court, the premier agency found the involvement of the Himachal Police in the prison death.
Eight policemen including an IG Police, Zahur H Zaidi have been named and have been sent into a judicial remand. The designated CBI Court had extended their remand by two more weeks on Monday. These police officers were part of a special investigative team constituted by the State Police to probe the rape and murder case. The police officials who were arrested on August 29 are presently lodged in the Kanda Jail near Shimla.
Since the beginning the local villagers are doubting the involvement of some well connected youth of the area in this case and not the outsider Nepalese and Uttarakhand labourers. Mass protests were held in Kotkhai, Theog and Shimla against the wrong arrests by the Police and the involvement of Police itself in the custodial death.
