Adding to the woes of former SP, Shimla DW Negi, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday got one more day of his police remand. The CBI sleuths on Monday produced Negi in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Ranjeet Singh and asked for extension of remand for five more days as the investigating team wished to confront Negi with one witness Mohan Singh Bisht.
Avinash Sharma, counsel for Negi, opposed the CBI plea and alleged that agency had contravened its own ground for getting custody. He said that CBI could have confronted him with others in the five days as the accused officer had been in police remand for five days.
Negi was arrested by the CBI as the ninth cop of Himachal Pradesh police in the custodial murder case of Suraj Singh, one of the accused of Kotkhai gang rape and murder case.
Granting extension of remand, the court extended police remand for one more day. Negi was Superintendent of Police, Shimla when the Kotkhai gang rape and murder case had come to light. He remained Security Officer of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also and remained a blue-eyed officer of CM. He was taking care of the investigation in the Kotkhai gang rape and murder case, before the setting up of a Special Investigation Team headed by IG Z H Zaidi.
Negi, had visited the spot, where the body of the Kotkhai gang rape school girl was found in the forest area of Kotkhai on July 6. He was also a member of the SIT of Himachal Pradesh police that had arrested 6 persons in connection with the Kotkhai gang rape and murder.
Suraj Singh was murdered in the custody of Himachal Pradesh police on the intervening night of July18/19. Earlier on August 29, CBI had arrested total 8 cops of Himachal Pradesh police including IG Z H Zaidi, head of the SIT, and Manoj Joshi, DSP of Shimla. All the 8 arrested cops have been in judicial custody since then. CBI had summoned D W Negi and Additional SP Bhajan Dass Negi to Delhi for questioning last month.
The brutal Kotkhai gang rape had came to light on July 6 and it had jolted the entire hill state. The case was handed over to the premier investigation agency on July 19 after the state faced unprecedented public ire and demonstrations all over the state.
The SIT constituted by the state government had nabbed 6 people in connection with the Kotkhai gang rape and murder case, in which a 16 year old school girl was kidnapped on July 4 and her body was dumped into a forest area near Kotkhai after brutal gang rape.
The case took a disgusting turn, when an accused, Suraj, arrested by the SIT of Himachal Pradesh was murdered in the police lock up. The death of Suraj in police custody led to violent protests throughout the state.
The CBI, while has not made any more arrests in the Kotkhai gang rape case but it arrested 8 officials of Himachal Pradesh, including IG, S H Zaidi, the head of SIT constituted by Himachal Pradesh government before handing over the case to CBI.
CBI had got Narco-analysis test and polygraph tests conducted on the five accused arrested by the Himachal Pradesh police. Agency is said to have grilled more than 200 people in relation to the Kotkhai gang rape and murder case.