Allahabad, September 11: In a major development the Allahabad High Court on Friday acquitted businessman Moninder Singh Pandher in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old teenager Rimpa Haldhar, who was one of the children strangled at his Nithari residence.
The Allahabad High Court observed that there was no substantial evidence to prove Pandher’s criminal involvement in the case.
However, the Allahabad High Court upheld the death sentence awarded to his domestic help Surinder Koli.
The Allahabad HC ruling has sent shockwaves across the country and disappointed Rimpa’s family, which has confirmed that it will appeal against the judgement in the Supreme Court.
The development comes moths after MS Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli were sentenced to death by a special court in February for rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl Rimpa Halder, one of 19 victims in the sensational Nithari serial killings.
Pronouncing the sentence in a packed court room, Special CBI judge Rama Jain held the crimes committed by 55-year-old Pandher and 38-year-old Koli to be ‘‘rarest of rare’’ deserving capital punishment.
While the counsel of victim’s family Khalid Khan termed the verdict as a grave disappointement. The businessman’s son Karandeep Singh on the other hand said his father was innocent and the verdict was an endorsement of the family’s long term stand. He also cited his acquittal in some of the previous cases related with Nithari as a signal for things to come.
The Court had earlier convicted Pandher and his servant under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder, rape, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
In the final arguments on Friday, the CBI had sought death penalty for Koli and left the quantum of punishment for Pandher for the court to decide as the agency had no charges against him in this case.
As many as 18 cases have been lodged against Pandher in the infamous Nithari killings case.
–Agencies