In the first of the Nithari case verdicts, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Thursday convicted businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli for raping and killing 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar.
Special Judge Rama Jain held Pandher and Koli guilty of murder and rape of Haldar, one of the 19 young women and children from Nithari village in Noida area whose body parts were found in a drain behind Pandher's bungalow in December 2006.
While Koli was also found guilty under the additional charge of abduction, Pandher will be punished for destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. Both the accused now face charges punishable with death.
Jain will pronounce the quantum of punishment Friday morning. This is the first verdict in the 19 cases registered by the CBI.
After the conviction was announced, Pandher's wife Devinder Kaur and son Karandeep burst into tears.
Karandeep hugged his father and said: "Sorry Papa I could not save you." To which Pandher replied: "Don't cry�"
Avoiding the media glare, the family immediately left the courtroom while Pandher and Koli were whisked away by the police.
For the family of the teen, who was sexually abused and brutally hacked to death, however, the verdict was an affirmation of their faith in the judiciary.
"My faith in the judiciary has increased after the conviction and I hope the court will give them death penalty," said Rimpa's father Anil Haldar, who drives an autorickshaw.
"God has given us the courage to fight against these high-profile people. Finally, justice has gone in our favour and we are very happy. Now my daughter's soul will rest in peace. Both the accused should be hanged," said his wife Dolly.
Hours before the ruling, the judge called Pandher and Koli in her courtroom and asked Pandher if he wanted to say something about the confessional statement Koli had given in a Delhi court in 2007.
To this, Pandher shook his head and said: "I don't want to."
Jain prodded him further about his involvement with a woman named Payal, who was mentioned in Koli's statement. Koli had said Pandher allegedly had sexual relations with the women victims "who would often spend the night".
To this, Pandher did not deny his involvement, and said, "Yes, yes (haan haan) Payal".
The two men were arrested Dec 29, 2006, after the Noida police found 15 skulls outside the businessman's D-5 bungalow in Noida on the outskirts of the national capital.
Subsequently, more bones were recovered from the drain behind the bungalow. Eventually, investigations revealed that the remains belonged to four women and 15 young girls who had been raped, killed and mutilated.
After the judgement, Khalid Khan, lawyer for the Nithari victims' families, said: "This is the landmark judgement and victory of justice. The court has found both Pandher and Koli guilty for rape and murder."
"The sentence will be announced Friday and both will get the same punishment. I will seek death penalty for them. The CBI tried to save Pandher but could not do it," a jubilant Khan, who was hoisted up on people's shoulders in celebration, said.
The CBI in its charge sheet in the gruesome murder of Haldar in May 2007 had exonerated Pandher of abduction, rape and murder. Two months later, however, the court reprimanded the agency and Pandher was made co-accused with Koli.
The CBI charge sheet stated that Haldar was strangled and then cut to pieces by Koli with two kitchen knives and an axe four years ago. It said Koli was suffering from necrophilia (urge to have sex with a corpse) and necrophagia (urge to eat the flesh of a body).
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