Pandher’s son finds a lawyer

Twenty-five-year-old Karandeep Pandher wants to hire only the “best lawyer in town” to save his father Moninder Singh Pandher, who was awarded death sentence by a Ghaziabad court in the Rimpa Halder murder case. Abhishek Sharan and Kapil Datta report.

Twenty-five-year-old Karandeep Pandher wants to hire only the “best lawyer in town” to save his father Moninder Singh Pandher, who was awarded death sentence by a Ghaziabad court in the Rimpa Halder murder case on Friday.

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“I want to hire the best lawyer who can challenge my old father’s death sentence at Allahabad High court soon. But will that be enough? I have to see that I get a lawyer who is willing to fight my father’s case,” Karandeep told Hindustan Times.

He added, “It has happened in the past that a few lawyers I had approached declined to represent my father.”

Karandeep, who dropped out of his graduate course in political science from Canada's Windsor University in mid-2006, admitted he “slept well Friday night”.

He explained why: “I decided to have a good night’s sleep because I have to stay in the right frame of mind and body in order to save my innocent father.”

A day after, on Saturday, Karandeep spent his time in huddles with his father's potential lawyers. “I have decided who to hire after all. He is ready to take up the case as well,” he whispered.

“Check out the farmhouses around Delhi, they have single caretakers or servants who do anything as they like without telling their employers. Is my father responsible for what Koli might have done?” he asked, clearly distancing from crimes Koli has been convicted of doing.

Meanwhile, at Halder’s residence at Nithari village in Noida, there is both a sense of joy and determination. Her family “ate more and enjoyed the food like never before on Friday night,” said the victim’s father Anil Halder, an autorickshaw driver.

“I am now pondering as to how to take the case further. Pandher’s son will challenge the verdict given to his father, but I am planning to arrange money to be able oppose his plea,” he told HT.

He said, “So far I have spent Rs 2.5 lakh to fight the case, I will fight the case till the death sentence is executed.”