The much talked about Nithari case of Noida which shocked the country and the world...even after 18 years, 18 innocent people and one woman could not get justice. All of them were raped and murdered. Body parts and skeletons were found in drains and bushes. The investigation reached the biggest agency CBI from
UP Police.
Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher were made accused on their own confession. Trial court awarded death sentence, Allahabad
High Court acquitted him due to lack of evidence. These questions are still demanding answers as to who murdered the innocents… who mercilessly cut the dead bodies into pieces… who committed heinous acts like rape… who were the cannibals?
Allahabad
High Court has acquitted Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher, who were awarded death sentence by the CBI court in the Nithari massacre. The court said that the police failed to prove the accused against both of them. Expressing displeasure over the investigation, the division bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice SAH Rizvi said, the investigation was very poor and the fundamental process of collecting evidence was completely violated. The failure of the investigating agencies is a betrayal of public trust.
The
High Court said, the investigating agencies chose the easy way out by framing a poor servant by portraying him as a villain without investigating the serious aspects of organ trade. Due to such serious lapses, a number of conclusions are possible, including collusion.
The Court also said that the accused-appellants were clearly not given a fair trial by the trial court. On February 13, 2009, the special CBI court found both of them guilty of rape and murder and sentenced them to death. Pandher and Koli were accused of rape and murder of 18 innocent children and a woman. The first case in this matter was registered in the court on February 8, 2005.
No bones or skeleton found from Pandher's house
The court also took note of the fact that the prosecution kept changing its stand. First jointly accused Pandher and Koli. Later the blame was put on Koli. The court also said that the human remains were recovered from a drainage located beyond the limits of house numbers D-5 and D-6. No recovery was made from Pandher's house.