Ruchika’s father, complainant join CBI investigation

CHANDIGARH - S.C. Girhotra, father of teenaged molestation victim Ruchika Girhotra, and Anand Prakash, complainant in the case against disgraced former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, Friday joined fresh investigations launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the nearly two-decade-old case.

A CBI team from its New Delhi headquarters met Girhotra and Prakash for several hours at their camp office here. Both were closeted with the CBI team till Friday evening.

Incidentally, Girhotra and Anand Prakash had not even responded to the summons sent to them by the special investigation team (SIT) set up by the Haryana police earlier January to investigate three fresh cases registered against former state police director general of police (DGP) Rathore.

Both had accused the SIT of doing things to shield Rathore. They had said that they had no faith in the Haryana police SIT, and SIT chief Shatrujit Kapoor said they had not made themselves available.

Rathore was convicted Dec 21 by a CBI special court here for the molestation of budding tennis player Ruchika Girhotra Aug 12, 1990, in Haryana’s Panchkula town, 10 km from here.

Ruchika committed suicide three years after the incident after Haryana police harassed her family and tortured her younger brother, Ashu, after implicating him in false car theft cases.