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INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - 1st FEBRUARY - TO - 15th FEBRUARY - 2009
NITHARI KILLINGS CASE: KOLI, PANDHER SENTENCED TO DEATH
A Special CBI court pronounced death sentence for Nithari killings convicts Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher.
Special Judge Rama Jain read out the quantum of punishment for Koli and Pandher at 1500 hrs this afternoon.
The CBI counsel demanded the death penalty for Koli but refused to ask for a similar punishment for Pandher.
The Judge also imposed a fine of Rs 90,000 each on the two.
More than two years after the body parts of 19 children and young women, who had been sexually abused and mutilated, were found in a drain behind D-5 house in Noida's Sector 31, the owner, Pandher, was convicted for kidnapping, raping and murdering 15-year-old Rimpa Haldar, besides chopping up and hiding her body in the drain.
His servant, Koli, was convicted on the same counts but for attempted rape instead of rape. During interrogation earlier, it had been reported that he was suffering from necrophilia, which makes a person sexually attracted to corpses.
The two were also convicted for having criminally conspired to rape and murder Rimpa and hide her body to conceal evidence of the crime.
During the half-hour long final arguments before the pronouncement of sentence, CBI counsel S P Ahluwalia termed the killings by Koli 'rarest of rare' and a fit case for capital punishment.
The CBI counsel argued that Koli has no right to live in society because even today he has no remorse of his deeds. ‘He continues to be a threat to society,' Mr Ahluwalia said.
The counsel submitted that Koli is a rare combination of a person indulging in pedophilia (having sex with children) and necrophilia (having sex with corpse) and there are no chances of his becoming reformed and rehabilitated.
Mr Ahluwalia said Koli used to lure innocent women and children to the house of his employer Pandher before killing them and later having sex with their bodies. In some cases, he used to cook and eat their flesh, the counsel said.
However, in the case of Pandher, CBI, which had given a clean chit to the businessman, said, 'whatever the court deems fit, we will accept that.' To this Khalid Khan, lawyer representing the victim's family objected and demanded gallows for Pandher as well.
Mr Khan expressed deep satisfaction over the Special Court’s verdict, saying, ‘It’s a landmark judgment and a slap on the face of CBI, which needs to change its strategy.' Noida police unearthed the grisly case on December 28, 2006, in which about two dozen girls, kids and young women were found cut into pieces near the D-5 flat of Pandher in Sector 31, Noida.
The case was investigated by the CBI which found Koli guilty while giving a clean chit to Pandher. The victims appealed against the chargesheet of the CBI. Based on the testimony of police officers, victims and other witnesses, the court gave its decision today.
However, according to Noida police Koli committed the heinous crime on the dictation of Pandher, who asked him to abduct, kill and later rape the innocent young girls.
The grisly Nithari serial killings case shocked the nation.
The duo was arrested subsequently by Noida’s Sector 20 police.
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