Ghaziabad: A CBI court on Monday convicted businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surender Koli to death in the Nithari serial rape and murder case.
Special Judge Pawan Kumar Tripathi gave the verdict after finding them guilty of rape, murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy over the killing of a 20-year old woman.
The case, the eighth of the several lodged against them, was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) ON December 2006. Kohli and Pandher were present in the court during the sentencing.
Prosecution lawyer J P Sharma sought the death sentence and argued that forensic evidence proved that Kohli abducted, killed and raped the woman and also tampered with evidence.
The woman was returning home on October 5, 2006 from work, taking the road outside Pandher’s residence. Kohli lured her inside where she was killed and beheaded. Investigators found her skull behind the house.
Defence lawyer Devraj Singh pleaded for minimum punishment as Pandher suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes.
The gruesome cases came to light in 2006 when the police discovered the skulls and bones of 16 persons mostly children near Pandher’s house in Noida’a Nithari village.