The death of an accused in the gangrape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Himachal Pradesh’s Kotkhai in police custody on Wednesday morning triggered violent protests as people set on fire three police vehicles and building.
To keep the situation under control, additional police force was rushed to Kotkhai and police resorted to firing, as the authorities feared the killing would trigger outrage.
Police said accused Suraj Singh — a Nepali citizen — was killed by another accused Rajender alias Raju, during a scuffle inside the lock-up after an altercation.
Shimla Superintendent of Police DW Negi said a fight broke out between Suraj and Rajender on Tuesday night, in which Suraj was badly injured. “He was taken to Theog hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead,” he said.
Furious protesters also blocked the Hatkoti-Theog and the Hindustan-Tibet highways for hours due to which hundreds of people were stranded. Police faced a tough time even in shifting the injured to a hospital. After much effort, three of the injured policemen were admitted to a local hospital while one critically injured was referred to the Indira Gandhi Medical College.
Himachal Police has been facing flak in handling the sensitive case in which a girl, student of Class X, was raped and murdered in the Kotkhai area of Shimla district. The girl took a lift in a vehicle allegedly driven by Rajendra, said police, adding that the victim’s body was recovered from the nearby Halila forest two days later on July 4. Six persons, including Suraj and Rajendra, were arrested in connection with the case.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who was on a visit to Mandi, said Suraj was not the main accused and he was hit by another accused on his genitals and the matter is being investigated.
BJP MPs from the State — JP Nadda, Shanta Kumar, Anurag Thakur and Ram Swaroop along with State party chief Satpal Singh Satti called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and expressed concern over the worsening law and order situation in Himachal Pradesh and demanded dismissal of the State Government. The party has called for a ‘bandh’ in Shimla and said it will stage demonstrations on July 21.