| Monday, January 22, 2007 |
| Nithari: Pandher and Koli backtrack, deny having murdered anyone |
Moninder Pandher, one of the two key accused in the bizarre murders of several children in Nithari village, Noida, has gone back on his earlier statement.
Pandher now denies having raped or murdered anyone, not even commercial sex worker Payal, NDTV has reported.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating whether the other accused, Surinder Koli, is involved in more murders than the 17 that have been reported.
Koli too has done a complete turnaround on the statement that he gave to the Uttar Pradesh police.
While in CBI custody, Koli said Pandher said they had nothing to do with the rape and murders of many children.
Meanwhile, the CBI's investigations into the serial killings seem to be yielding results.
Surendra Koli, a key accused in the case, on Friday led the CBI investigators to an axe, one of the murder weapons.
The CBI officials, who accompanied Koli to his employer Moninder Singh Pandher's house in Noida and found the axe, which Koli said he had used to kill two of his victims.
In a new and strange development, the CBI is getting a little nervous about the two murder-accused, as Koli has reportedly expressed his desire to kill again.
The CBI is keeping a strict watch on him so that he does not hurt himself or other people.
In fact, the CBI officials are said to be avoiding being alone in the same room with Koli since he is believed to be mentally unstable.
The CBI had earlier said that Koli was a necrophile, as he had admitted to having sex with his victims after they were dead. Now the agency is planning to get psychiatrists to examine Koli's motives for the murders.
The CBI has also sought the services of Dr Lalji Singh, considered to be the father of DNA fingerprint technology in India.
Dr Singh's work had led to the conviction of the accused in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case.
Anyway, there would have to be a long wait for justice to be done in the ghastly Nithari killings case. The case poses a challenge to the CBI because of his intricacies as well as the forensic nature of the investigation.
Fortunately, the CBI is reportedly finding new evidence almost every day.
According to sources, the testimonies of children made to the CBI will be used to further its investigations and primarily to establish Koli's character.
The CBI has also sent 17 skulls and all the bones dug out from the drains near residence of Moninder Singh in Nithari to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, from where it will be sent to Hyderabad for forensic examination.
According to the CBI, samples from the bones and skulls would be used for DNA testing to establish links between the victims and the parents of missing children.
In case if the DNA results do not match the samples of those submitted, the samples will be matched with those of people claiming to be parents. However, there's a problem – the DNA tests are accurate only for bones less than two years old.Labels: nithari |
| posted by a correspondent @ 3:30 AM |
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