Death for Pandher, Koli in Nithari rape-murder case

Friday, February 13, 2009

Posted by Snehsan

Ghaziabad : Businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli were sentenced to death by a special court on Friday for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar, one of the 19 victims in the Nithari serial killings.
Pronouncing the sentence, Special CBI judge Rama Jain held the crimes committed by 55-year-old Pandher and 38-year-old Koli to be the ‘rarest of rare’ deserving capital punishment. Pandher broke into tears while Koli remained unmoved. While Khalid Khan, the counsel of the victim's family, called the verdict a "slap on the face of the CBI" which had given a clean chit to Pandher, the businessman's son Karandeep Singh said his father was innocent and he would appeal against the judgement in the Allahabad High Court. In a statement, the CBI said it was satisfied with the judgement pronounced against Koli but further action in Pandher's case, if any, would be taken only after examining the judgement and on the basis of legal advice. The court had on Thursday convicted Pandher and Koli under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for murder, rape, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. "No more penalty could be awarded to the accused persons otherwise they deserve more punishment as their act of murder and rape in this particular case was beyond all the canons of humanity," the judge said. During final arguments, the CBI counsel had argued that Koli had no right to live in society because even today he had no remorse. "He continues to be a threat to the society," the CBI counsel said, pointing out that Koli was a rare combination of a person indulging in paedophilia (having sex with children) and necrophilia (having sex with the dead) and there was no chance of his becoming reformed and rehabilitated.
Reacting to the court verdict which had not taken into account the CBI's contention that Pandher was away in Australia along with his wife when Rimpa was raped and murdered in February 2005, the CBI said in a release that the opinion formed by it in all the 16 cases in Nithari was based on legally admissible evidence and the result of probe. CBI investigations revealed that Pandher, owner of the house, was away when the incidents took place. "This is borne out from the documents, statement of witnesses and mobile phone records." "When the first incident of abduction, rape and murder of Rimpa Haldar took place on February 8, 2005, Pandher was out of the country in Australia. The opinion formed by the CBI in all the 16 cases was based on legally admissible evidence and result of investigation," CBI said in the release.