Nithari Killings – Moninder Pandher and Surender Koli Sentenced to Death by CBI Court

A special CBI court, presided over by judge Pawan Kumar Tiwari held businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surender Koli guilty of rape, murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy in a case relating to the killing of a 20-year-old woman Pinki Sarkar, and sentenced them to death..The decision came in the wake of a series of cases, which were filed in the 2009 Nithari killings incidents, that had rocked India. It was alleged that Pandher and Koli had abducted, raped, and even cannibalised young women and minor girls from low-income households, who were seeking work as domestic help..The court accepted the argument of public prosecutor JP Sharma that scientific evidence has proved that Koli abducted, killed and raped the woman and tampered with the evidence, with Pandher’s permission and help..Defence lawyer Devraj Singh challenged the prosecution argument and contended that on the date of crime Pandher was not present at the crime spot. He said it has been proved that on that date Pandher was in Dehradun. However, after taking stock of arguments from both sides, the court held them guilty..This is the eighth of the 16 cases pertaining to the Nithari killings, and only the second so far, in which both have been convicted. In 2009, the Allahabad High Court held Koli guilty but acquitted Pandher due to lack of evidence..On 15 February 2011, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra had sentenced Koli to the gallows, but after a protracted legal battle, including a review petition in the apex court, the Allahabad High Court on 28 January 2015 commuted the sentence to life imprisonment..A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and PKS Baghel had held that the execution would be unconstitutional because of the inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition.