A CBI court today pronounced life imprisonment for Himachal Pradesh’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Zahur Haider Zaidi and seven other police officers in connection with the custodial death of an accused in the 2017 Kotkhai gangrape and murder case. The hearing, which took place after 4:00 PM. During the hearing, the defense counsel presented a plea for leniency on behalf of the convict Z.H. Zaidi. Zaidi admitted his guilt and requested the court to consider a minimum sentence under the various sections of the Indian Penal Code for which he and the other officers were found guilty.
CBI Public Prosecutor Amit Jindal argued for exemplary punishment due to the seriousness of the crime.
At approximately 4:45 PM, the court declared the life imprisonment sentence, though a detailed order is still awaited. All eight accused were found guilty, with the exception of former Superintendent of Police (SP) DW Negi, who was acquitted of all charges.
The convicted officers include former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Manoj Joshi, Sub-Inspector (SI) Rajinder Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Deep Chand Sharma, Head Constables Mohan Lal and Surat Singh, Head Constable Rafee Mohammad, and Constable Ranjeet Sateta.
The charges they were convicted on include Section 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), Section 302 (Murder) read with 120-B, Section 330 (Causing Hurt to Extort Confession) read with 120-B, Section 348 (Wrongful Confinement), Section 195 (Fabricating False Evidence) read with 120-B, Section 196 (Using False Evidence) read with 120-B, Section 218 (Public Servant Framing False Record) read with 120-B, and Section 201 (Causing Disappearance of Evidence) read with 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.
Also read:CBI Court convicts Himachal IGP and Seven others in Kotkhai custodial death case
