Pandher, Koli held guilty of rape, murder

Following the arrest and conviction by Central Bureau of Investigation, a court on Saturday charged the businessman Moninder Singh Pandher guilty of murdering a 20-year-old woman, one of the several cases known as the Nithari serial killings of 2006.

There is a state of happiness and relaxation among the locals of Nithari and family members of various victims who were brutally raped and murdered in the fatal incidents.

However, they have demanded that Pandher should be convicted not only in one case but in all the other cases of rape and murder committed at his residence located at D-5 in Sector 31, Noida.

They want that the accused should be hanged till death as soon as possible.

On Saturday, a trail court held Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli guilty under sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 364 (kidnapping) and 201 (disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

Special Judge Pawan Kumar Tiwari, who delivered the verdict, will announce the quantum of punishment on Monday.

This was the eighth of the Nithari serial rape and murder cases in which Koli, who has already been sentenced to death, has been convicted.

Pandher, who was out on bail, was taken into custody after the CBI court in Ghaziabad pronounced the judgment.

Koli has already been sentenced to death in seven out of 16 cases probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A relative of one of the sixteen victims who were brutally murdered and raped by them said, "My 10-year-old daughter was one of the victims. Pandher is equally a criminal. He is a rich man, who will manage to get bail easily. A final decision should be taken and both should be hanged till death. This is the only way to give justice to my daughter and other victims".

"Pandher is equally responsible as the all the victims were killed and buried in his house," alleged one victim's father.