HC acquits Pandher in Nithari killings case

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad High Court has upheld the death sentence awarded to Surinder Kohli in the sensational Nithari murders case while co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher has been acquitted.

Pandher has been acquited of all charges by the court.

On Aug 6, 2009, The Allahabad High Court had reserved its judgement on the criminal appeals of Moninder Singh Pandher and Surendra Koli challenging the death sentence awarded to them by a lower court in the infamous Nithari case.

Pandher, a resident of Noida, and his domestic help Koli were awarded capital punishment by a Special CBI court in Ghaziabad on February 13 this year for having raped and murdered a 14-year-girl at their house.

Several other girls, who went missing from the nearby Nithari village, were believed to have been raped and murdered at Pandher's house where recovery of a large number of human skeletons in December, 2006, had evoked a huge public outcry following which CBI took up the inquiry into the matter.