Nithari killings: CBI wants death for Koli, silent on Pandher

Ghaziababd: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday asked a special court here to sentence Surendra Koli to death for the murder and rape of a teenage girl from Nithari village, but was silent on Moninder Singh Pandher who was also convicted in the case.

In the first verdict in what have come to be known as the Nithari killings, which shocked the nation with its overtones of sexual abuse and cannibalism, Special Judge Rama Jain on Thursday convicted Pandher and Koli for raping and killing 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar four years ago.

The special CBI court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad town, on the outskirts of the national capital, heard the argument for the quantum of punishment Friday morning and will pronounce the sentence at 3 pm.

CBI counsel Sunil Batra demanded death sentences for Koli but said nothing regarding Pandher, while the victim's counsel Khalid Khan demanded death for both.

Koli's counsel Kalu Ram pleaded for mercy for his client on the ground that the evidence contained contradictions. Pandher's lawyer's claimed that his client was innocent and was unaware of what Koli had done.

Koli and Pandher were arrested on December 29, 2006, after police found 15 skulls outside the businessman's bungalow in Noida adjacent to the national capital. The house (D-5) in Noida's Sector 31, is next to Nithari village.

Subsequently, more bones were found in the drain behind the bungalow. Eventually, investigations revealed that the remains belonged to four women and 15 young girls who had been raped, killed and mutilated.

The CBI in its chargesheet in the gruesome murder of Haldar in May 2007 had exonerated Pandher of abduction, rape and murder. Two months later, however, the court reprimanded the agency and Pandher was made co-accused with Koli.

The CBI chargesheet stated that Haldar was strangled and then cut to pieces by Koli with two kitchen knives and an axe four years ago. It said Koli was suffering from necrophilia (urge to have sex with a corpse) and necrophagia (urge to eat the flesh of a body).