THE Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted domestic help Surendra Koli and his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the 2006 Nithari serial killings for lack of evidence, recalling for many the chilling crime targeting young girls that came to light with skeletal remains being found behind a Noida bungalow. A two-judge bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and SHA Rizvi allowed the appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who were challenging the death sentence given by a CBI court in Ghaziabad. The High Court said the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. “The Allahabad High Court order may pave the way for Pandher to walk out of jail,” the businessman’s lawyer Manisha Bhandari told PTI over the phone. However, Koli is likely to remain behind bars. He still faces life imprisonment in one case. Expressing “disappointment” with the probe, the High Court noted that the investigation was “botched up” and “basic norms of collecting evidence” were “brazenly violated”.

 

The failure of the prosecution was nothing short of a “betrayal of public trust” by responsible agencies, the High Court said. Pandher was acquitted in two cases in which he was facing the death penalty while Koli was let off in 12 cases in which he was awarded capital punishment. “Upon evaluation of the evidence led in this case, on the touchstone of fair trial guaranteed to an accused under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, we hold that prosecution has failed to prove the guilt of accused SK and Pandher beyond reasonable doubt, on the settled parameters of a case based on circumstantial evidence,” the bench of Justices Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi and Ashwani Kumar Mishra said. The High Court expressed “disappointment at the manner in which Nithari killings, particularly the disappearance of victim A, have been investigated”. “The prosecution case is based upon the confession of accused SK, made to U.P. Police on December 29, 2006,” the bench said. It said the procedure required to be followed for recording the accused’s disclosure leading to recovery of biological remains i.E. Skulls, bones and skeleton etc.

 

Has been given a complete go by. “The casual and perfunctory manner in which important aspects of arrest, recovery and confession have been dealt with are most disheartening, to say the least,” it said. The court took note of the fact that the prosecution kept changing its position -- from attributing the recoveries jointly on Pandher and Koli initially to “the guilt was fastened exclusively” on Koli at later stages. The High Court noted that all the recoveries of human remains were from a drainage situated beyond the boundary of House no. D-5 (Pandher’s) and D-6 (belonging to a doctor accused of organ trading) and no recovery was made from inside of Pandher’s house. “None of the recovery of skull, bones/skeleton is made from within the House No. D-5. The only recovery from within the House No. D-5, Sector 31, Noida is that of two knives and an axe, which admittedly are not used for committing the offence of rape, murder etc. But are alleged to have been used for cutting the body parts after the victims were strangulated to death,” the bench said. It said the failure of the prosecution to probe the possible involvement of organ trade, despite specific recommendations made by the High Level Committee constituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, in the Nithari killings is nothing short of a “betrayal of public trust” by responsible agencies. The High Court said the investigation opted for “the easy course of implicating a poor servant” of the house by “demonizing him”, without taking due care of probing more serious aspects of possible involvement of organised activity of organ trading.

 

“Inferences of many kind, including collusiono express any definite opinion on these aspects and leave such issues to be examined at the appropriate le etc are probable on account of such serious lapses occasioned during investigation. However, we do not intend tvel,” it said. The sensational killings came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children from the drain behind Pandher’s house in Nithari in Noida bordering the national capital on December 29, 2006. Further digging and searches of drains in the area around Pandher’s house led to more skeletal remains being found. Most of these remains were that of poor children and young women who had gone missing from the area. Within 10 days, the CBI took over case and its search resulted in the recovery of more bones.