The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the bail application filed by suspended Inspector-general of police (IGP) Zahur Haidar Zaidi in relation to the custodial death of an accused in the 2017 case of gangrape and murder of a minor schoolgirl in Shimla.
The Bench, headed by Justice M.R. Shah, rejected the bail application of former IGP Zaidi. While rejecting bail application, the court observed “We are not on merits of the case, we are in how you didn’t follow conditions imposed by the Trial Court? Being the highest IPS officer, how can you influence and give threats to other IPS Officer?”
“You may consider this a little factor, but as far as criminal trial is concerned, influencing a witness is a very important thing,” the court added.
Senior Advocate VK Gupta, appearing for the former IGP, submitted that there is no case made out against the accused under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code. Only a case of Section 201 (disappearance of evidence of offence) of IPC is made against the accused.
On May 8, 2019, the apex court had transferred the case related to the alleged custodial death of an accused, from Shimla to Chandigarh.
The case was related to the custodial death of an accused, who was arrested in a case of alleged rape and murder of a 16-year-old school girl in Kotkhai area of Shimla district. The trial in the 2017 case was transferred to Chandigarh on orders of the Supreme Court.
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Zaidi was first arrested on August 29, 2017, within 38 days of CBI taking over the investigation and remained in custody for over 19 months. He was released on April 6, 2019, on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The IGP rank officer was taken into judicial custody on January 24 this year, after the special CBI court cancelled his bail as IPS officer Soumya Sambasivan, a prosecution witness, complained to the court that she was being pressured by the accused not to depose against him.