Pandher, Koli guilty in 9th Nithari case
Murders surfaced after skulls, bones were found near Pandher’s house in Noida; quantum of punishment on Friday
GHAZIABAD:A CBI court in Ghaziabad on Thursday found businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli guilty in connection with the murder of a 25-year-old in Nithari. This was the ninth of the 16 Nithari killings in which Koli has been held guilty for rape, murder and destruction of evidence. CBI Special Judge Pawan Kumar Tiwari is likely to pronounce the quantum of punishment on Friday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not chargesheet Pandher in the case but he was summoned as co-accused by the CBI court in December 2007.
Out of the nine cases, this is the third case involving both Koli and Pandher.
“The victim was a domestic help and went missing on October 12, 2006. She was identified by her clothes which were found from the human remains recovered from the closed gallery behind the D-5, Sector 31, Noida, house of Pandher,” said JP Sharma, CBI special public prosecutor. The Nithari murders came to light in December 2006 when the Noida police discovered skulls and skeletal remains of 16 persons, mostly children from Nithari village, from the backyard of Pandher’s Sector 31 home. Police found the mortal remains during investigation when children and young women disappeared mysteriously in the area.
The investigation revealed that Koli allegedly lured women and children inside Pandher’s house where he attempted rape and further dismembered bodies of victims before throwing their body parts in the gallery and drain near the house. It is also alleged that he cooked and ate the body parts of the victims.
After initial investigation in the killings by the UP police, the CBI took over the investigation and filed chargesheets in 16 of the 19 cases. Koli has already been sentenced to death in eight out of 16 cases.
Pandher was not chargesheeted by the CBI in any of the cases, except one, under the provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Act. He was summoned as co-accused by the CBI court in five cases. In the first case decided in February 2009, both Koli and Pandher were awarded the death penalty. However, Pandher was acquitted of all charges following an appeal at Allahabad high court. Later, in January 2015, Koli’s death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by the high court.
Since their arrest in December 2006, both Pandher and Koli were confined to Dasna jail.
Pandher, however, was granted bail by the high court in September 2014.
Both were again given the death penalty in a case decided in July earlier this year, after which Pandher was sent to jail again.
“The appeal (in July case) is pending at the high court. His health has deteriorated drastically during all these years but he is trying to cope up somehow,” said Karan, Pandher’s son. The CBI investigation in the 25-year-old’s murder ruled out Pandher’s involvement on several accounts.