The Allahabad High Court, owing to lack of evidence, acquitted
on Monday key accused Surendra Koli and his co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher
in the Nithari murder case, one of the most notorious incidents in Noida that
sent shockwaves across the nation.
A Bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice
Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi found Koli innocent in a series of 12 cases for which
he had been awarded the death penalty and Pandher in two cases in which he received
the death sentence earlier.
As per the high court, the prosecution failed to prove
its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Koli was found guilty of rape and murder of many girl
children between 2005 and 2006.
The incident came to light in December 2006 when
skeletons were found in a drain near a house in Nithari village in Noida.
Upon investigation, Koli and his employer Pandher were
taken into custody over the disappearance of one of the victims.
After Koli’s confession, the police started digging up
the nearby land area and discovered the children’s bodies.
The case was soon handed over to the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), which filed 16 cases, charge sheeting Surinder Koli in all
of them for murders, abductions and rapes besides destruction of evidence, and
Pandher in one for immoral trafficking.
Two policemen were also suspended for failing to take
action despite being informed about a number of children missing.
The ‘sealed’ 435-square meter house, where the
horrific killings occurred, still stands at D-5, Sector 31 in Noida, however,
it is ransacked and almost every other item inside is missing.
Many families of the Nithari victims shifted elsewhere
over the years as they could not bear to live near the house where the alleged
brutalities took place.
Reportedly, most of the victim families were migrants
from West Bengal and Bihar who had come to NCR in search of a livelihood.
NE Watch Desk
