Gudiya murder case, death of accused in custody. Who is Himachal Pradesh IG Zahoor Haider Zaidi who got life imprisonment?
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The verdict has come in the case of the death of accused Suraj in police custody in Himachal Pradesh’s Gudiya case. 8 police personnel, including IG Zahoor Zaidi, have been sentenced to life imprisonment in this case. Along with this, a fine of one lakh rupees has also been imposed on all of them. What is this whole case and how the names of police officers come in this case?
Almost everyone is aware of the much-talked-about Gudiya gang rape and murder case of 2017 in Himachal Pradesh. In this case, the accused, Suraj, of Nepali origin, died in police custody. The special CBI court in Chandigarh heard the case of Suraj’s police custody death on Monday. Then it also pronounced its verdict on this.
The court has sentenced eight policemen, including Himachal Police IG and IPS officer Zahoor Haider Zaidi, HPS officer, and DSP Manoj Joshi, to life imprisonment.
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Not only this, but they have also been fined one lakh rupees each. This court decision comes seven and a half years after Suraj’s death. The convicts include IG Zahoor Zaidi, DSP Manoj Joshi, and Kotkhai police station’s then-SHO Rajinder Singh, ASI Deep Chand Sharma, Head Constable Mohan Lal, Surat Singh, Rafi Mohammad, and Constable Ranjit Stata.
On January 18, the court convicted all of them based on witnesses’ statements, evidence, and the parties’ arguments. On the other hand, D.W. Negi, the then SP of Shimla, was acquitted due to a lack of evidence. After that, all these convicts were taken into custody and sent to Burail jail in Chandigarh.

What is the Gudiya murder case?
On July 4, 2017, 16-year-old Gudiya was gang-raped and then killed. The accused had committed this crime in the Tandi forest of Kotkhai. Then they fled, leaving Gudiya’s body naked. At that time, this case was under investigation by the then IG Zahoor Haider Zaidi as chairman. For that, an SIT was formed to investigate this case.
2017: Suraj died
The police soon succeeded in the case. The SIT arrested all seven accused. One of these accused was Suraj of Nepali origin. Suraj died under suspicious circumstances in the custody of Kotkhai police station on 18 July 2017. When the postmortem of the body was done, it was found that Suraj died due to police brutality. The matter received so much attention that, on the orders of the High Court, an investigation of this case was handed over to the CBI.
The CBI found that Suraj was killed in police custody and the policemen had conspired for this. After this, in August 2017, the CBI arrested Zaidi, Joshi, and other policemen. During the investigation and hearing, Zaidi was also accused of threatening witnesses. Due to this, his bail was also cancelled.

IG Zaidi remained in prison for 582 days
IG Zahoor Zaidi was arrested and kept in Kanda Jail in Shimla. He spent 582 days in jail and was granted bail by the Supreme Court in April 2019. However, his trial continued in the court. Zaidi was suspended in August 2017. However, he was reinstated in November 2019. In 2020, the then BJP government suspended Zaidi again. In January 2023, the Congress government reinstated his services. In September 2023, he was also posted in the police department.
What was the decision in the Gudiya case?
Anil alias Neelu, the main accused in the Gudiya gang rape and murder case, has also been sentenced to life imprisonment by the court in the year 2021. In April 2018, the CBI arrested Chirani Neelu. On 28 April 2021, the special court of Shimla had convicted him. Now the decision of the Chandigarh court has come regarding the death of Suraj in police custody.