Allahabad HC Acquits Pandher in Nithari Serial Killings Case

In sensational Nithari serial killings case, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Noida-based businessman Moninder Singh Pandher but upheld the death sentence awarded to this domestic help Surinder Koli by the trial court.

Soon after the judgment, the family of 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar, one of the 19 victims of the serial killing and rape, has said that they will move the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court verdict.

While delivering the judgment, a division bench comprising Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Kashi Nath Pandey pointed out that the CBI, which was investigating the case, “did not file chargesheet against Pandher on the ground that there was no evidence against him for committing the murder of Rimpa Haldar”.

However, the bench clarified that Pandher’s exoneration “was only in this (Haldar) case and shall not affect trial in other related cases” and upheld the death penalty awarded to Koli, who had confessed to have murdered Haldar.

After the verdict, a perturbed Dolly Haldar, the mother of the teen, shouted slogans against the police and the Central Bureau of Investigation standing outside Pandher’s D-45 bungalow in Noida’s Sector 31..

Subsequently, mob gathered at the venue and police was deployed at the residence, near Nithari village where the victims belong to, where where Pandher and his domestic help Koli allegedly carried out the gruesome crimes.

The high court passed the order in an appeal against a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) trial court that had awarded death to Pandher and Koli in the Haldar case.