Moninder Singh Pandher, Surinder Koli acquitted of Nithari serial killings
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In the Nithari serial killings case that shocked the conscience of the
country in 2006, a large number of small children were murdered one after
other and their bodies disposed of in drains after chopping them into
pieces. Poor women of the slums were also available to be lured as maid
servants and poverty-stricken kids roaming around like orphans in the
deprived environs were easy prey. They were from the slums of Noida's
sector 31. Rumours were swirling that time such a serial killing only
indicated a subterranean kidney racket. A medical report had stated that the torsos were
missing from the biological remains recovered from the drains. Nothing was heard of it later. The perpetrators and the beneficiaries are usually rich and connected.
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ALLAHABAD, Oct 16: Moninder Singh Pandher and his helper Surinder Koli, who
were earlier sentenced to death by a CBI court in the infamous Nithari killings
of Noida, Uttar Pradesh, were acquitted by the Allahabad High Court on Monday
for want of evidence. The prosecution failed to prove the charges against them.
The Nithari serial killings took place during 2005-2006 at the house of Moninder
Singh Pandher in Noida Sector 31, according to the CBI charge sheet.
Pandher challenged the death sentence awarded by the trial court in two cases
in the Allahabad High Court. He was acquitted in other cases. There were 16
charge sheets against Koli and he was sentenced to death in 13 of them by the
trial court.
The bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi allowed
the appeals filed by Pandher and Koli.
Moninder Singh Pandher was acquitted in the two cases in which he was sentenced
to death by the trial court. Surinder Koli was acquitted in all the 13 cases
he was awarded death.
"Allahabad High Court has acquitted Moninder Singh Pandher in the appeals against
his death sentence in two cases. There were a total of six cases against him,
of which he was already acquitted in four. Koli has been acquitted in all appeals
against him. Now no case is pending against Maninder Singh Pandher in the Nithari
case. He will be released from jail,” Pandher’s lawyer Manisha Bhandari said.
The murders were committed in 2005-2006 and in December 2006 skeletons were
found in a drain near Pandher's house in an investigation after a 22-year old
missing woman's father made a police complaint on May 7, 2006.
The police arrested Panther and Koli on December 29, 2006. On November 15,
2007, the woman's father turned hostile.
Koli was arguing his own case as he said he did not trust the Government lawyer.
Panther told the court that he was not in the place when the killings are alleged
to have taken place.
The CBI took over the case on January 10, 2007. It found Koli would lure minor
children and women to the house, murder them and dispose of the bodies in drains
after chopping them.
There were 19 victims in the Nithari killings that shocked the country, the
youngest victim was a five-year old girl and the oldest was 25-year old woman.
A 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar was murdered in 2005.
Nineteen cases were registered against the two. But charge sheets were filed
against Koli in 16 cases. He was convicted in 13 and acquitted in the three
others. There were six cases against Panther. He was convicted in three. All
the cases were decided at the Ghaziabad court.
The court had been hearing the Nithari cases since 2009.
Both Koli and Pandher are currently lodged in Dasna jail.
Koli was awarded the 13th death sentence by the CBI court on May 1, 2022. This
one was the 16th and last case, of the murder of the 22-year old woman. The
special CBI judge Rakesh Tripathi ordered, “The convict shall be hanged till
death." Koli's employer Panther was awarded seven years in prison in the case.
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(Today's headlines )
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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