Special CBI court at Ghaziabad has sentenced Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surender Koli to death on one of the Nithari serial rape and murder cases. The court of special Judge CBI Pawan Kumar Tiwari pronounced the quantum of punishment after finding them guilty of rape, murder, abduction, tampering with evidence and criminal conspiracy in a case relating to the killing of a 20-year-old woman.
Pandher has managed to escape the gallows in other cases wherein Koli was awarded death sentence.
The CBI special judge observed that it is the rarest of rare case, which had shaken the society. Therefore, both the accused persons deserve the death sentence.
Pandher, who was out on bail, was taken into custody after he was convicted by the special CBI court on Saturday. Koli was also present in the court when the judge pronounced his order.
Pronouncing the quantum of sentence the special judge detailed that under Section 302 of IPC Koli was awarded death sentence with Rs 10,000 cash penalty and if the cash penalty is not paid he would be liable for six month more jail term. Under Section 364 of IPC Koli was awarded 10 year jail term along with Rs 10,000 cash penalty and if he failed to pay, his jail term would be extended to four month more. Under Section 376 and 511 of IPC, Koli was awarded 10 years jail term and Rs 10,000 cash penalty.
The judge ordered that if the convict failed to pay the penalty, his jail term would be extended to four more months. Under Section 201 of IPC Koli was awarded seven year jail term and Rs 5,000 cash penalty and if failed to pay the penalty, his jail term would be extended to four more months, the judge wrote in his order.
Pandher was awarded death sentence under Section 302 and 120 (B) of IPC along with Rs 10,000 cash penalty. His jail term was to be extended if he failed to pay the penalty. Under Sectiond 376, 511 and 120 (B) Pandher was awarded seven year jail term along with Rs 10,000 cash penalty. The order stated that his incarceration will be extended to another four months if the convict did not pay the penalty. Under Sections 201 and 120 (B) of the IPC, Pandher was awarded seven year jail term in addition to Rs 5,000.
The case, the eighth of the several lodged in the serial rape-murders, was registered by the CBI on December 29, 2006.
The prosecution lawyer JP Sharma pleaded for the death sentence of both. He argued that scientific evidence has proved that Koli abducted, killed and raped the woman and also tampered with the evidence. He further said that since Pandher was in collision with his domestic help so he deserve the same punishment for the crime rarest of rare.
lawyer Khalid Khan — on behalf of the victim — pleaded for the death sentence for both and alleged that the police had been lax from the right beginning in the case.
The defence lawyer Devraj Singh pleaded for the minimum punishment of Pandher as is ailing from high blood pressure and is diabetic. He said Pandher's presence in Dehradun on that date has been proved. He had been denied justice since in earlier cases he was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court. And also in Supreme Court Koli was found guilty of crime not Pandher therefore in one sense this judgment is the contempt of Supreme Court judgment.
This case is of the woman who, on October 5, 2006, was returning home from work and when she passed by the road outside the D-5 residence of Pandher Koli lured her inside the home. He then after killing her beheaded her and threw the skull behind the house, which was recovered by the CBI. The DNA of the skull matched with the parents of the deceased.
Her clothes, which were recovered from Koli, were identified by the parents. Pandher was involved in the conspiracy of the crime.
However, after taking stock of arguments from both sides the court awarded death sentence to both the accused persons.
The gruesome cases came to light in 2006 when the police discovered the skulls and bones of 16 persons, mostly children, from near Pandher's house in the Noida village of Nithari.