Nithari killings:sword of Damocles over UP govt, Centre orders probe

New Delhi/Noida, Jan 3 (UNI) Apparently put off by the alleged apathetic attitude of the UP government towards the Noida serial killings, the Centre today ordered a high-level inquiry into the role of the police and administration during the two-year-long brutal assault and murder of children in Nithari village, even as police dug up the lawn of the 'killer house' to gather more evidence into the ghastly incident.

The committee, which has members from the Union Home Ministry and the Ministry of Women and Child Development Ministry, besides the state government, will submit its 'findings report' within a fortnight, according to an order of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Comprising Joint Secretary (Police) Home Ministry V N Gaur, Secretary with UP government's Department of Women and Child Development Balvinder Kumar, and Women and Child Development Ministry Director J S Kochher and chaired by Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Women and Child Development Manjula Krishnan, the committee would look into the efforts made by the local administration, especially the police, to locate the missing children following the lodging of the missing report by their families, while making recommendations to prevent such incidents in future.

Meanwhile, police dug up the lawns of the 'killer house' in Nithari village as part of its continuing efforts to gather evidence against the serial killings.

However, ''nothing suspicious'' was found in the night-long digging of the non built-up area at 'D-5 Nithari Gaon' in Noida's Sector 31, according to top police sources.

''Though nothing concrete has been found in the digging, the final word would be out only after laboratory tests are conducted on the unearthed substances.'' The digging was undertaken to find out if some bodies had been buried inside the house as well, said the sources.

In another development, the Supreme Court today rejected a plea seeking CBI inquiry into the killings even though Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said he was not averse to a central investigative agency probe.

''We are waiting for the two-member committee's report which is in Nithari to probe the incident,'' he said.

Talking to mediapersons, Mr Yadav said his government was not against recommending a CBI probe into the killings, but any decision would be taken after the committe's report.

The Congress also demanded a CBI inquiry into the brutal killings.

Earlier in the day, more than a dozen members of the victims' families today met the two-member high-powered inquiry committee, here on a three-day mission to probe the incident, and asked for ''liberal assistance'' to begin life anew.

They demanded that at least one member of each affected family be given a government job and a 25 sq metre plot for building a house, besides a CBI probe into the killings.

The BJP, on its part, today launched an indefinite hunger strike at the District Magistrate Camp office here demanding that the case be handed over to the CBI and the guilty officials punished for their laxity which led to the disappearance of nearly 38 children from the area over a two-year span.

Party Rajya Sabha leader Vinay Katiyar speaking to the affected families, after visiting the 'killer house' in Nithari Village this afternoon, regretted that a ''pittance'' was announced as compensation by the state government.

''At least Rs ten lakh should be given to all those who had suffered for so long at the hands of the killer,'' he said and added that the Mulayam Singh government should resign owning moral responsiblity for the dastardly act which showed failure of the entire system.

UNI