The Allahabad High Court in the case observed and has reserved its verdict on an appeal filed by the accused Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher against the conviction of them and sentence of the death penalty in the 2005-2006 Noida serial murders in the Nithari case.
The bench comprising of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi in the case observed and has reserved the judgement wherein an appeal and court reference concerning capital punishment awarded to them in one of the cases.
However, the Koli was being handed to death sentences in more than 10 cases earlier, Pandher too, has been sentenced to death in three cases by the trial courts.
The court noted that Koli and Pandher have been found guilty of rape and murder of several children between 2005 and 2006 and have been awarded death penalty. Thus, they moved to High Court, against the conviction order of them. The court observed that it was found that Moninder Pander is the owner of the house and Koli was his domestic help and hence, both were implicated in the FIRs In the present case, the CBI registered the total 16 cases, the charge sheeting Koli in all of them for murder, abduction, and rape besides destruction of evidence, and Pandher in one for immoral trafficking.
However, the Ghaziabad court summoned the Pandher in five other cases after several victims’ families approached it. Thus, as per CBI, Koli had killed several girls by chopping off their bodies to pieces before throwing them in the backyard outside their house.
The counsel, Advocate Manisha Bhandari appeared for Pander.
The counsel, Advocate Payoshi Roy represented the Koli.