Two investigations, a custodial murder, whispers of a cover-up, and imprisonment of a top cop, the case took a circuitous route before nailing the culprit.
Commonly called the Gudiya case, the brutal rape and murder of a 16-year-old shook Himachal Pradesh in the summer of 2017. Gagan looks back to see how the case unfolded over the years.
Two days later, her body was found in a ditch in the forest, with her clothes, an empty liquor bottle, and some other items scattered around her. An autopsy indicated that she died due to the cumulative effect of “homicidal smothering and manual strangulation in a case of recent forcible penetrative sexual assault”. In layman’s language, she was raped and murdered.
The incident triggered massive protests and uproar in Kotkhai, Shimla and other parts of the hill state where crimes of such nature are rare.
The first arrests, a custodial death, and vandalism
Around a week later, a special investigation team of the state police led by IG Zahur H Zaidi arrested six men residing in the area on charges of raping and killing of the minor.
One of the accused, Suraj Singh, a 29-year-old labourer from Nepal, died while being interrogated at the Kotkhai police station on the intervening night of July 18 and 19. The police alleged that he was murdered by one of his co-accused.
The custodial death aggravated the ongoing public protests and speculations of an unfair investigation, triggering an outburst in Kotkhai and Theog the next morning. A mob burnt down the Kotkhai police station and vandalised police vehicles. The same day, the Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered the CBI to take over the case.
CBI arrests the SIT head
A few days later, the CBI was also tasked with investigating Suraj’s custodial death, in connection with which it arrested eight police officials, including IG Zaidi, in August 2017.
The case against them was eventually shifted to the CBI court in Chandigarh, where it is currently underway against nine people. Some of the police officials were granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2019, including IG Zaidi who was reinstated in the state police. Last year, however, an SP from Himachal told the court that she was being pressured by Zaidi to change her statement. The court cancelled Zaidi’s bail, and he’s back behind bars in Burail jail, Chandigarh. Other accused are all out on bail presently.
The rape-murder: Investigation 2.0
The CBI found that the DNA of those already arrested did not match the reference DNA extracted from samples taken from the crime spot and the victim’s body in the rape and murder case, according to the agency’s chargesheet filed in the trial court.
The accused also underwent scientific tests such as polygraph, narco analysis and brain mapping at a forensic lab in Gujarat. According to the CBI, the involvement of the six people could not be established, and the five surviving accused were eventually discharged from the case.
Investigators then started afresh, tracing and questioning thousands of area residents, teachers and students at the victim’s school, family members, bus drivers, labourers and other people who happened to be living or working near the crime spot at the time of the incident. During this process, blood samples of 250 people were collected for DNA analysis.
Using advanced forensic techniques such as YSTR analysis of semen found at the spot, and acting on a lead from a source, CBI officials zeroed in on a woodcutter who had left the area after the crime. They traced his family in Kangra district, and collected his mother’s DNA, with forensics indicating that her biological child was the culprit.
But the suspect, Anil Kumar alias Nillu ‘Charani’, was missing and incommunicado, already having been declared a proclaimed offender in a past case. He was eventually arrested from an orchard in Shimla’s Hatkoti area in April 2018, following months of CDR surveillance and profile-building. According to the CBI, his DNA matched with the reference DNA from the crime scene.
The chargesheet and the trial
According to the CBI’s chargesheet, on the day of the crime, Nillu consumed liquor in the afternoon and met the victim on a deserted path while she was on her way home. He first had an altercation with her, following which he caught and dragged her into the forest adjoining the path, where he raped, smothered and strangled her.
The CBI said that he left behind an empty liquor bottle at the crime scene, which has been identified by the seller.
Several people who saw him in the area before and after the crime or sold liquor to him on the day of the crime have identified him, the chargesheet said. Other witnesses include a widow whom he allegedly sexually assaulted a-day-and-a-half after the murder. He also allegedly tried to steal someone’s clothes and molested another woman before leaving the area a few days later, the chargesheet said.
Around 55 prosecution witnesses deposed during the trial in a special court in Shimla.
The timeline
2017
July 4: 16-year-old girl goes missing after leaving school for home.
July 6: Her body is found in a forest, autopsy indicates rape and murder.
July 7: Protests erupt over the crime.
July 9: HP Police constitutes a special investigation team led by IG Zahur H Zaidi.
July 13: SIT nabs six people
July 19: A suspect dies in police custody during interrogation; mob sets Kotkhai police station on fire.
July 22: CBI takes over investigation into both the rape-murder case and the custodial death case
August: CBI arrests 8 policemen, including IG Zaidi
September: CBI arrests then Shimla SP DW Negi in custodial death case.
2018
April: CBI arrests key suspect in rape and murder case, a woodcutter, from Hatkoti area.
2019
April 5: IG Zaidi granted bail.
April 19: Former Shimla SP DW Negi gets bail
May 17: Supreme Court moves trial of the case to Chandigarh from Shimla.
November: IG Zaidi’s suspension revoked
2020
Jan 16: IG Zaidi again suspended
January 24: CBI court cancels Zaidi’s bail, he is taken into judicial custody
October: Girl’s parents move HP High Court seeking fresh investigation
2021
April 28: Lumberman Anil Kumar alias Nillu held guilty of rape and murder
The 16-year-old girl's body was found in a ditch in the forest. 
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