<p class="title">A policeman and a SPO arrested in connection with the Kathua rape and murder case have moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking a fresh CBI probe into the matter and quashing of the investigation by the state crime branch.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta and Special Police Officer (SPO) Deepak Khajuria were arrested for allegedly destroying evidence related to the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in the state's Kathua district.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A petition was filed in the high court in this regard yesterday by their counsel Veenu Gupta.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The petitioners pleaded that the crime branch probe be quashed as it had been shifted on three occasions from the local police to it, and finally to a Special Investigation Team (SIT).</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is strange that a policeman, who was involved in a rape and murder case a few years ago and evaded arrest for three years despite being an officer, was a member of the SIT, the petition said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The officer's subsequent acquittal in a trial court for lack of evidence is a matter of record, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Despite the sensitivity of the case, he is a member of the probe panel, the petitioners said, while pleading for a fresh CBI probe in the case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The petition said there were "huge differences" in the post-mortem and forensic reports and stated that the crime branch probe was "incorrect".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The petitioners also objected to the crime branch findings that the girl was kept at a Devasthan and alleged that the SIT had tampered and planted evidence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They also alleged that the main aim of the probe was to facilitate encroachment of government land by tribal people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The body of the girl, from a minority community, was recovered from a forest in Kathua on January 17, a week after she went missing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the crime branch that formed the SIT and arrested eight people, including the sub-inspector and the SPO, who were charged with destruction of evidence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jammu has been tense since the incident and the Bar association has opposed the arrests alleging "targeting of minority Dogras".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The trial in the matter began on Monday last. </p>
<p class="title">A policeman and a SPO arrested in connection with the Kathua rape and murder case have moved the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking a fresh CBI probe into the matter and quashing of the investigation by the state crime branch.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sub-Inspector Anand Dutta and Special Police Officer (SPO) Deepak Khajuria were arrested for allegedly destroying evidence related to the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in the state's Kathua district.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A petition was filed in the high court in this regard yesterday by their counsel Veenu Gupta.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The petitioners pleaded that the crime branch probe be quashed as it had been shifted on three occasions from the local police to it, and finally to a Special Investigation Team (SIT).</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is strange that a policeman, who was involved in a rape and murder case a few years ago and evaded arrest for three years despite being an officer, was a member of the SIT, the petition said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The officer's subsequent acquittal in a trial court for lack of evidence is a matter of record, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Despite the sensitivity of the case, he is a member of the probe panel, the petitioners said, while pleading for a fresh CBI probe in the case.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The petition said there were "huge differences" in the post-mortem and forensic reports and stated that the crime branch probe was "incorrect".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The petitioners also objected to the crime branch findings that the girl was kept at a Devasthan and alleged that the SIT had tampered and planted evidence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They also alleged that the main aim of the probe was to facilitate encroachment of government land by tribal people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The body of the girl, from a minority community, was recovered from a forest in Kathua on January 17, a week after she went missing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On January 23, the government had handed over the case to the crime branch that formed the SIT and arrested eight people, including the sub-inspector and the SPO, who were charged with destruction of evidence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Jammu has been tense since the incident and the Bar association has opposed the arrests alleging "targeting of minority Dogras".</p>.<p class="bodytext">The trial in the matter began on Monday last. </p>