“Allahabad High Court Acquits Moninder Singh Pandher and Surendra Koli in 2006 Case”
BI News, Greater Noida : Nithari serial killings accused Moninder Singh Pandher walked out of Luksar jail in Greater Noida on Friday, three days after he was acquitted in the case. The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted him and his domestic help, Surendra Koli, in the high-profile 2006 case. The court’s decision came as a result of observing that the prosecution had not sufficiently proved guilt “beyond reasonable doubt” and that the investigation was “botched up”.
The 65-year-old Pandher, who was one of the two prime suspects in the case, is a patient of tuberculosis and hence was seen wearing a face mask. Neither Pandher nor his lawyer spoke to the media after his release. One of his lawyers, requesting anonymity, informed that Pandher will go to his Chandigarh residence. Luksar jail superintendent Arun Pratap Singh said that the jail authorities received release orders for Pandher release on Friday morning. “Pandher was lodged in jail for two cases and the release order for one of them was received on Thursday while the second one was received on Friday. Following formalities, Pandher was released from jail around 2pm,” said Singh.
Pandher’s domestic help and co-accused in the case Surendra Koli remain in Ghaziabad’s Dasna jail. The Nithari murders were committed between 2005 and 2006. The Nithari killings came to light in December, 2006 with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children from a drain behind Pandher’s house in Noida.
Subsequently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was investigating the case, registered 16 cases, charge sheeting Koli in all of them for murders, abductions and rapes besides destruction of evidence, and Pandher in one for immoral trafficking. Surinder Koli was found guilty of rape and murder of several girls and was sentenced to death in over 10 cases.
