Nithari killings: Pandher, Koli convicted of murder and rape

Neelabh Shrivastava and Ashwini Srivastava

Ghaziabad (UP), Feb 12 (PTI) Punjabi businessman Moninder
Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli, both accused in
the Nithari serial killings in India's northern state of Uttar
Pradesh, were pronounced guilty Thursday of murder and rape of
a 14-year-old girl, leaving the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) red faced as it had given a cleat chit to
the entrepreneur.

Pandher (55) and Koli (38), who have been in judicial
custody since January 2007, were produced in the jam-packed
court of Rama Jain, Special CBI Judge, who pronounced the duo
guilty of murder, rape, criminal conspiracy and destruction of
evidence.

The quantum of punishment would be pronounced Friday, the
judge said after delivering a 55-page verdict. The sentence
can be death by hanging or life imprisonment.

CBI filed charegsheet in this case on May 19, 2007 in
which the agency while giving clean chit to Pandher, had
charged Koli of raping and murdering Rimpa Halder at the house
of businessman at Nithari in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi.

Rimpa was first of the victims who was brutally killed on
February eight 2005 and her body was found hacked. Koli was
suffering from necrophilia (having sex with dead bodies) and
also charged with cannibalism (eating human flesh).

In its chargesheet, the CBI had mentioned that Pandher
was in Australia with his wife when the incident had taken
place and also attached his passport details.

Rejecting the CBI contention, the judge convicted both of
them.

In the first of the 19 cases filed against them, Pandher
was convicted of 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 201 (causing
disappearance of evidence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Koli was found guilty under sections 364 (kidnapping for
murder), 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 511 (attempting to
commit crimes punishable with a lifer).

As the judge pronounced the word guilty for the two,
Pandher, dressed in a white, started sobbing while his servant
Koli, dressed in blue trousers and grey sweater, showed no
emotions.

Investigations into the serial murders began in December
2006, when the skeletal remains of a number of missing
children were discovered in Nithari.

A horrifying saga unfolded as it was revealed that at
least 17 were murdered and of them 10 were girls. Besides rape
and murder, police had also probed allegations of organ trade.

Pandher was produced in the court early morning where the
judge asked him whether he was aware of the statement made by
Koli in the Metropolitan Magistrate's court in Delhi. He
replied in negative.

Koli gave his confessional statement under section 164 of
Criminal Procedure Code before a magistrate in this case.

The evidence in this case was the recovery of Rimpa's
clothes from the D-5 house where Koli was a domestic help. The
clothes were identified by the mother of the victim.

The DNA samples from Rimpa's clothes had also matched
with the blood sample of her mother, father and brother.
During the probe, Koli identified the buttons of Rimpa's
dress.

Ghaziabad court premises were turned into a virtual
fortress with heavy deployment of security personnel. PTI TEAM
DEP