PRAYAGRAJ The Allahabad high court pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its failure to produce the post-mortem report of a victim of the Nithari case (also known as the 2006 Noida serial murders case).
Hearing an appeal filed by the accused, Surinder Koli, against his conviction and sentence of death penalty, a division bench comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Sameer Jain directed to put up this matter along with other connected matters on March 7, 2022 and also warned that if the earlier orders of the court are not complied with, then a responsible officer of the department concerned of the CBI shall be personally present before the court to submit his explanation.
Surinder Koli was found guilty of rapes and murder of several girl children between 2005 and 2006 and was sentenced to death in over 10 cases.
During the course of hearing, an application was moved on behalf of Surinder Koli under Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) read with Section 294 of the code for the production of post-mortem report pertaining to one of the victims.
However, despite being given several chances by the court, the CBI failed to produce the reports.
{{/usCountry}}However, despite being given several chances by the court, the CBI failed to produce the reports.
{{/usCountry}}When the matter was taken up on Monday, the counsel appearing for the CBI stated that he has prepared a draft reply and the same has been sent for vetting to the department concerned, but a response is awaited.
When the court requested him to give a specific date by which the response would be filed, he stated that the matter may be taken up on March 7, 2022.
On this reply, the court, while calling the approach of the CBI as casual, observed, “On our question as to why there is so much delay in submitting a reply or producing post-mortem report, we could not get a cogent explanation from the counsel, who represents CBI. This casual approach on the part of CBI is clearly unacceptable.”
The Nithari murders were committed between 2005 and 2006. The matter came to light when in December 2006, skeletons were found in a drain near a house in Nithari, Noida. Later, it was found that Moninder Pandher is the owner of the house and Koli was his domestic help.
Subsequently, the CBI, which was investigating the case, registered 16 cases, charge sheeting Surinder Koli in all of them for murder, abduction, rape besides destruction of evidence, and Pandher in one for immoral trafficking.
The Ghaziabad court, however, summoned Pandher in five other cases after several victims’ families approached it. In 11 previous cases, the court had found Koli guilty in all and had awarded death sentence all of which are now pending appeal in higher courts.