E-Paper
Kotkhai case: HC dismisses Zaidi’s plea for 60-day parole
His plea on the same issue was also dismissed by a trial court on May 1.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of Himachal Pradesh’s senior IPS officer Zahur Haider Zaidi seeking 60 days bail in the 2017 Kotkhai custodial killing case. He had moved the high court on Apri 28 in this regard. The detailed order is awaited.
His plea on the same issue was also dismissed by a trial court on May 1.
He had cited that he was suffering from hypertension and had not been keeping well. Claiming that he was susceptible to Covid-19, he had pleaded that he be granted bail.
Zaidi, an IGP-rank officer, is an accused in the Kotkhai custodial death case. He had been granted bail by the Supreme Court in April 2019. However, the trial court had cancelled the bail after prosecution witness and SP-rank officer Soumya Sambasivan’s statement that she had been pressured by the accused in an attempt to influence the trial.
The custodial killing case is an offshoot of the alleged rape and murder of a 16-year-old school girl in Kotkhai area of Shimla district. Six men had been initially arrested by the Himachal police in the case and one of them was later found dead at the Kotkhai police station.
