Nithari case: SC issues notice on petition challenging Pandher's acquittal

The Supreme Court today issued a notice to CBI on a petition challenging the acquittal of Moninder Singh Pandher in one of the cases relating to infamous Nithari rape and serial killings in Noida.

The apex court also sought a response from Pandher on the petition filed by the family members of a victim against the Allahabad High Court verdict setting aside his conviction and death sentence awarded to him by the trial court.

The petition challenging Pandher's acquittal was filed by Anil Haldar whose daughter also became a victim of the alleged offence.

The high court had upheld the death sentence of main accused Surinder Koli who was working as a domestic help of Pandhers at their Noida residence.

Koli has challenged his conviction and his death sentence has been stayed by the apex court. He was sentenced to death, along with Pandher, by the sessions court in Ghaziabad on February 13, 2009 but the Allahabad High Court acquitted the latter while confirming the death sentence on the servant in connection with the grisly killings which had surfaced in December 2006.

The house of Moninder Singh Pandher in Section 20 Noida was the alleged scene of the horrific rape and killings of girls and women nearly three years ago, and had sparked a national outrage.

A special CBI court had on February 13, 2009, convicted both for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar, one of the several victims of the grisly killings in Nithari in 2007.