Shimla: The CBI on Tuesday arrested eight Himachal Pradesh policemen including an Inspector General rank officer in connection with its probe into the custodial death of an accused in the Kotkhai rape case.

 “We have arrested IG Zahur H Zaidi, Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Joshi and six other policemen in the connection with an ongoing investigation into the custodial death of an accused in the Shimla gangrape case,” said a CBI officer.

The Himachal police had arrested six accused persons in the gang rape and murder of a minor school girl whose naked body was found in isolated woods in Kotkhai tehsil’s Halaila village last month.

The six accused were identified as Ashish Chauhan (29), Rajinder Singh (32) of Sharaal village, Subash Singh Bisht (42) of Pauri Garhwal, Surat Singh (29) of Nepal, Lok Jan (19) of Nepal and Deepak (38) of Garhwal.

However, one of the accused in the case, Surat Singh, had died in police custody in Kotkhai under mysterious circumstances.

The CBI action came following questioning of more than 100 witnesses and suspects in the case.

According to CBI sources, a close relative of a Himachal Pradesh law officer is a suspect in the case.