The House of Horrors in Nithari continues to give people living nearby the shivers, as they recall the horrific serial rapes and murders that went on behind the closed doors of the sprawling D-5 bungalow.
Women and children are afraid of taking the road next to businessman Moninder Singh Pandher's infamous D-5 bungalow, where the body parts and clothes of 19 children and women were discovered from a drain in December 2006.
Pandher and his manservant Surinder Koli were convicted and given the gallows on Friday for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl, in the first case filed in the serial murders.
Lakshmi Devi, mother of Rachna, one of the child victims, said: "I still don't let my other children take the road adjoining the D-5 bungalow. I am afraid that anything can happen to them there."
For 10-year-old Jyoti, Rachna's sister, memories of the incident are still etched in her mind even four years after her sister went missing after stepping into the D-5 house in Noida's sector 31, next to Nithari village.
"I still remember how many times Koli tried to lure me with chocolates and toys and asked me to come to the house. I did not listen to him, but as my sister was young she fell into his trap," said Jyoti, a Class 5 student.
{{/usCountry}}"I still remember how many times Koli tried to lure me with chocolates and toys and asked me to come to the house. I did not listen to him, but as my sister was young she fell into his trap," said Jyoti, a Class 5 student.
{{/usCountry}}For other children in the village, D-5 has become a horror house. Nithari people avoid discussing the issue with their children, except issuing them with a strict warning to avoid going anywhere near it.
"I am still afraid of that place. Earlier I used to take the same route to my school but now I have stopped. My parents have told me that many children were brutally killed there by two people," said nine-year-old Akash Singhal.
Children avoid going alone near the house, and if they have to take the road going past it, they are always accompanied by parents or elder siblings.
"My parents never let me go near that place alone. My elder brother accompanies me to and from school on that route everyday," said Swati Kaushik, a Class 7 student of a nearby school.
The gruesome Nithari killings came to light in December 2006. Pandher and Koli were arrested after the police found 15 skulls in the drain behind the bungalow. Subsequently, more bones were found in the drain. Investigations revealed that the remains belonged to four women and 15 young girls who had been raped, killed and mutilated.