2006 Nithari killings: Surinder Koli sentenced to death

Surender Koli, key accused in the sensational 2006 Nithari killings, was on Monday awarded death sentence by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad which found him guilty of rape and murder of a five-year-old girl, the fifth case for which he has been handed down capital punishment.

Special Judge S Lal pronounced the verdict in Ghaziabad sending Koli to gallows for the crime.

The victim had gone missing from outside the house of Koli's employer Moninder Singh Pandher at Sector 31 in Noida in 2005 and her father had filed complaint with the local police.

Pandher was not an accused in this murder case.

Pandher and his domestic help Koli were arrested on December 29, 2006 after police recovered skeletons and other belongings of the missing girls from the drain.

Koli confessed to killing several girls, including the victim, chopping their body to pieces and throwing them in the backyard and in the drain near the house.

A total of 19 cases were filed and the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed charge sheets in 16 cases. Three cases were closed due to lack of evidence.

Koli was also given capital punishment in February 2009, September 2009, May 2010 and December 2010 for rape and murder in four different cases related to the ghastly killings.