In the second Nithari serial killings case, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday sentenced Surender Koli, the domestic help of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, to death for raping and murdering seven-year-old girl Arti. Special CBI Judge A.K. Singh awarded Koli the death sentence under
Section 302 (murder) of IPC along with life imprisonment under Section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) besides imposing a fine of Rs 3,000
The court accepted the argument of the prosecution that Arti’s murder fell in the “rarest of rare” category due to its brutal nature.
After hearing that he had been sentenced to death, 38-year-old Koli termed the verdict as a miscarriage of justice and “andha kanoon” (blind justice) and made it clear that he will appeal against the judgment in a higher court as he had been implicated.
The Arti rape-and-murder case is the second among the 19 cases in which the special court has pronounced its verdict.
In the chargesheet filed by the CBI, Koli was named as the sole accused for the brutal murder of Arti after the probe agency took over the investigations from the local police.
Koli had been earlier awarded the death penalty in the Rimpa Haldhar murder case.
The court on May 4 convicted Koli guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 362 (abduction) and 201 (destruction of evidence).
The CBI in its chargesheet alleged that Arti, a kindergarten student of Sarva Hitkari Siksha Niketan, had left her home to get a chocolate from her grandfather’s house nearby on September 25, 2006.
When she did not return, her driver father Durga Prasad lodged a complaint with the Noida police. The police filed the chargesheet in the case on December 29, 2006.
During the arguments on quantum of punishment, CBI lawyer, Suresh Batra pleaded that “It was a rarest of rare case in which the accused, Koli, had allegedly abducted a seven-year-old child, Arti, strangled her, attempted to rape her and chopped her body into pieces. He put her body pieces in plastic bags and disposed them along with articles used in the crime and the victim’s belongings”.