New Delhi, September 11: The Nithari killings that shook the nation unfolded in December 2006 when skeletal remains of several children were found near house no. D-5 in Nithari village of Noida’s sector 25.
Skeletal remains, plastic bags full of human entrails, children’s body parts, skulls, shoes, tiffin boxes and clothing were dug out from a drain adjoining the house.
On December 26, 2006, the owner of the house Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surender Koli were arrested by the Noida Police.
Pandher and Koli were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for rape, murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.
The killings are alleged to have been carried out by Koli with the knowledge of Pandher. He and Pandher were sentenced to death by a court on February 13, 2009 in the murder case of Rimpa Haldar, one of the girls killed in Pandher’s house.
Pandher has been acquitted in the Haldar case but his trial continues for 18 other murders in the Nithari case.
—Agencies