NITHARI KILLINGS: THE FINAL CHAPTER OF A 19-YEAR HORROR

A magistrate finally ordered a probeand police soon arrested Pandher and his domestic servant, Surinder Koli.

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Moninder Singh Pandher (left) and Surinder Koli (right), central figures in the Nithari killings case.

Koli (then about 30 years old) allegedly “confessed” on camera: he admitted to killing Payal and allegedly led officers to body parts dumped behind the house. Under what later proved dubious circumstances, police claimed Koli further confessed to six more child murders and even cannibalism. The sensational allegations - that he lured, raped, dismembered and even “consumed” victims - gripped the public. The crime scene became tangled with lurid myths of organ trafficking and cannibalism, cementing Nithari's place in the urban dark legend.

A WEALTHY EMPLOYER AND A SERVANT UNDER SCRUTINY

From the outset, investigators focused on Pandher and Koli. Moninder Pandher, a wealthy Non-Resident Indian, owned the bungalow at D-5 and regularly commuted from the US. His servant, Koli, was a poor man from Uttar Pradesh’s neighboring region. Police accused them of “kidnapping, sexually assaulting, murdering, and disposing [of]” the missing children and women. In a rush of sensational charges, trial courts handed fifteen death sentences: two for Pandher and thirteen for Koli.

Pandher, flanked by his lawyers, always proclaimed his innocence; Koli mostly remained silent. However, reporters and legal analysts later argued the case had been spun up around a “convenient villain”. Both were never tried for murder or cannibalism per se - the known charges were rape and murder. No organ trade has ever been proved. Many observers note that investigators quickly settled on Koli as the scapegoat, possibly to appease public fury. A Reporters' Collective investigation found evidence of “dubious and shifting accusations,” alleged torture, and a confession that was “forcibly extracted”.