SC confirms death in Nithari killings

Agencies/New Delhi

Two judges backed the death sentence handed out by lower courts to Surinder Koli for murdering Rimpa Halder, 14, in 2005 at a bungalow in Nithari in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi that became known as the "house of horrors”.

Koli, 39, has been found guilty of three murders and faces 16 other cases of murder that he allegedly committed in his employer’s house between 2004 and 2007. Most victims were girls from a nearby village.

Koli had sex with his dead victims and also ate some body parts.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began a probe when 69 plastic bags with human remains were dredged out from sewers around the property in Noida.

"In our opinion, this case falls in the rarest of rare category and no mercy can be shown to him,” the two-judge bench said in its final order, describing the crimes as "horrifying and barbaric”.

Bungalow owner Maninder Singh Pandher was also charged with first degree murder in the same case but he was acquitted in 2009 and now faces homicide charges.

Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra said Koli deserved the death penalty for the "horrifying and barbaric crime.”

The CBI said Rimpa was strangled and then cut to pieces by Koli with two kitchen knives and an axe.

The court said Pandher’s bungalow was a slaughterhouse.

"In this case there is no sentence other than the death sentence that you deserve,” the court said.

The Supreme Court concurred with the Allahabad High Court verdict upholding the death sentence.

The judges said in his confessional statement Koli gave a "graphic description” of the murders he committed.

"We see no reason to interfere with the high court verdict holding Koli guilty of murdering Rimpa,” the order said.

Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha told that court: "He was very careful in the choice of his victims. It was a very pre-mediated, dastardly and cowardly act.”

While confirming the sentence, the Supreme Court, however, did not say anything about Pandher, who was also given the death sentence by the trial court but was acquitted by the high court.

But the court observed: "For two years, murders were going on in your house. Except for 15 days when you were away to Australia, to say that you were not aware of what was going in your house, it is difficult to believe.”

The court said any confirmation of the acquittal of Pandher in Rimpa Haldar case would have repercussion on other cases where he is co-accused with Koli.

Earlier during the hearing, Koli’s court-appointed lawyer Sushil Balwada told the court there were many inconsistencies in the prosecution case and the conviction was based only on circumstantial evidence.

The court noted that Koli’s conviction did not rest just on the confessional statement but was backed by a lot of corroborative evidence.

The judges said that two girls - Purnima and Pratibha - have said that Koli tired to allure them also but they were lucky that they did not fall for the bait and were saved.