Nithari case: Kohli found guilty, Pandher let off

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Tuesday found Surinder Kohli guilty of the murder of seven-year-old Aarti, one of the 19 women and children from Noida's Nithari village, whose body parts were found in a drain near the residence of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher.

Aarti was the last known victim in the Nithari killings. She disappeared approximately two months before the case was busted.

In the previous judgment in the Nithari killings, the special CBI court on February 12 awarded the death sentence to Pandher and Kohli, for their respective roles in the Rampa Haldar murder case.

However, the Allahabad high court acquitted Pandher in connection with the case, but upheld the death sentence for his servant Kohli.

Just like in the Halder murder case, the CBI has given a clean chit to Pandher, primarily on the basis of his cell phone records, while holding only Kohli guilty of the crime.

Unlike Rampa's father, Aarti's parents Durga and Neelam Prasad have never challenged CBI's contention that Kohli alone was the culprit.

Aarti had reportedly returned home from school on the afternoon of October 25, 2006, after which she went out to buy herself some toffees.

However, she never came back. A report about Aarti going missing was then registered at the Sector 20 police station in Noida.

On December 29, 2006, Aarti's remains were found buried behind Pandher's home in Nithari.

Both Pandher and Kohli are accused of killing and disposing off the bodies of 19 children and a young woman between 2005 and 2006.

The investigation of the case was handed over to the CBI on January 11, 2007. The CBI has filed charge-sheets in 16 cases.