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Kotkhai gangrape-murder: Deceased, Suraj Singh, was in mourning after daughter’s death
Suraj was allegedly strangled by another suspect, Rajendra Singh, during a scuffle at the Kotkhai police station on Tuesday night. The duo were among the six men arrested for the gangrape and murder of a 16-year-old girl.
Little did Suraj’s children know what fate had in store when the cops arrested the Nepalese national on July 13.
Suraj was allegedly strangled by another suspect, Rajendra Singh, during a scuffle at the Kotkhai police station on Tuesday night. The duo were among the six men arrested for the gangrape and murder of a 16-year-old girl.
Hailing from Bajuara district in Nepal, Suraj had for the past four years worked as a daily wager with a leading orchardist in Kotkhai tehsil’s Halia village.
“He was an ordinary labourer like us,” said Janak Bahadur, a relative of Suraj, adding that the deceased’s five-year-old daughter Kaali had died on Diwali night last year.
“How could a man who was in mourning since his daughter’s death nine months ago be involved in a ghastly crime like this?” he asked.
Kaali died of jaundice last year. Suraj is survived by his 25-year-old wife Mamta, daughter Asha and son Shubam.
Janak is now worried about Suraj’s wife and daughter, who were picked up by the police for identifying Suraj, from Kotkhai bazaar.
“My wife called me up that cops had taken Suraj’s wife to Shimla. She informed me that since the roads to Shimla were closed, cops took her through the lateral roads connecting Rajgarh to Sainj,” he said.
Nepalese migrants, who are the back bone of the apple economy of the hill state, are shocked over the incident.
“I work in Gumma bazaar in Kotkhai, and was horrified on learning of Suraj’s murder. So I joined the protest at Kotkhai police station,” says Dil Bhadur, a labourer.
Suraj’s body was taken from Kotkhai to Shimla’s premier Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) for autopsy, even as people protested on the national highway connecting Parwanoo to Narkanda at Fagu Dhalli and Theogh. His body reached IGMC around 5 pm , amid a large crowd and a battery of mediamen waiting anxiously at the IGMC.
