CBI clears the air on Nithari killings

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday clarified that at no point of time had the agency said that Moninder Singh Pandher had been involved in the killing of the women and children whose body parts were found from the drain next to his D-5 residence in Nithari village in Noida.

Reacting to rediff.com story on the infamous killings, CBI joint director Arun Kumar said, "We never said that he was involved. We had conducted four tests each on Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher, which included lie detection tests, brain mapping. Pandher did not admit that he was involved in the killings while Koli said that Pandher was not party to the crime."

According to him, it was the media that had put Pandher on trial. He also denied that Pandher was being saved because of his political connections.

"This again is a myth. We have got the list of his phone calls from the mobile network and he does not have any political patronage. We made detailed inquiries about these calls," he said.

The officer who led the investigations in the Nithari killings, which rocked the nation including Parliament, said it was unfortunate that some people in the media have written all sorts of stories in their newspapers without verifying them. One such story reported about sexual relations between suspended Sub Inspector Simranjeet Kaur and Pandher.

"Why should we degrade ourselves to this extent," said the miffed CBI joint director.

But he admitted that Sub Inspector Simranjeet Kaur was extorting money from Pandher.

"We seized more than Rs one lakh but not in cash. It is wrong to say that amount seized is Rs 7 lakh. Pandher agreed to pay because he did not want his details about his weakness for Payal to come out. But he had no role in her killing as well," Kumar stated.

According to Kumar, Koli was sodomised by one of the seniors in school and not by a teacher as was being projected in newspapers and television channels. We spoke to Koli's family. His wife was shocked to hear about Koli because, according to her, he was never this sort of person. He has two children.

He expressed his inability to comment on reports on why Maya and Nisha -- two of the maid servants of Pandher -- had disappeared from the scene.

"I cannot verify or deny because I am sitting in my office," he said.

He maintained that the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case will stand in the court of law.

"Koli was detained but not arrested by the local police last year. He became a psychopath and would first rape or sodomised his victims and then killed them, and this included the call girl called Payal. Since he killed his victims in the bathroom of his owner and maid servants were not allowed to go there, it is possible that the maids may not have known about his activities.  

"It is true that Pandher used the suspended sub-inspector to threaten the family of Koli. We are still in the process of investigating whether or not the senior officers knew about the links between the officer and Pandher," Kumar disclosed.