Nithari: CBI investigation goes round in circles

New Delhi, Jan 21: More than ten days after taking over the Nithari killings probe, the CBI was yet to give it a 'direction' which could prove either of the three theories, 'organ trade', 'cannibalism' or 'psychopath killer,' doing the rounds.

The CBI has so far recovered more than 50 bags of 'bio-material', including 20 skulls and 70 bones of limbs and torso, and collected DNA samples of 37 'sets of parents' of the victims.

The above recoveries are besides what the Noida Police had recovered during its more than a week-long investigation before CBI took over to unravel the mystery shrouding the two-year-old saga which saw the disappearance of 38 children from the Noida Sector-31 village.

However, the investigating agency is yet to come out with a plausible explanation on the 'cause of killings' or with a substantial evidence which dilutes the over-riding 'local belief' of likely organ trade being carried out by the accused, with the help of the high and mighty of the city which included doctors, policemen and politicians.

Even as both the accused, Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher, were being interrogated regularly and again being brought to the 'killer house,' which led to certain other recoveries like clothes of victims, the alleged 'axe' used in the killings, purse of Payal (the victim whose mobile phone led to unravelling of the case), nothing 'concrete' has come out to substantiate the 'cannibalism' theory as well.

The 'psychopath killer' theory, which till date remains as the most likely one, also has yet to be proved, despite forensic tests having been conducted and all 'relevant evidence' collected from all likely sources, the Noida police, local villagers in Nithari, parents of victims and the accused.

The piecemeal dole-outs by 'CBI sources' too have yet to confirm either of the theories though officially the central agency is 'silent' on the 'findings so far'.

Contradictions in its own statements has made the outcome already suspectful, say observers, as on January 17, ruling out any signs of cannibalism in the 'episode' a senior member of the forensic team had said no signs of cannibalism by the accused had come during investigations.

Two days later, a senior official said prime accused Surendra Koli displays ''violent tendencies'' even while in custody for which he was being kept hand-cuffed, which once again gave vent to the 'cannibalism' theory.

The investigation team has also inspected and collected 'samples' from the D-6 residence of Navin Chaudhary, owner of 'Noida Medicare Centre' and earlier allegedly involved in the sale of kidneys, situated next to the 'killer house'. This, though CBI sources say, was in consonance with the investigators 'taking all angles' into consideration while carrying out the probe including that of organ trade, dilutes the above 'inference' of cannibalism.

The roundabout jaunt continues.

Meanwhile, the nearly 30-member team, comprising legal experts, officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory - Hyderabad and led by IG (Operations) Arun Kumar, are piecing together the evidences collected so far and pondering over the 'forensic report' on bio-materials gathered from the Nithari 'site' to derive some conclusion that could calm frayed people's nerves and 'soothe' political objectives as well, said sources.

While the CBI says it was also going into the alleged connivance of police officials to turn a blind eye to the criminal deeds of the accused for monetary considerations, all indications are that there were no efforts to 'bring-in' police officials.

The reason, said sources, was the central agency 'floating' the same theories propounded by the Noida Police and working 'almost' in the same direction and coming out with 'spin-offs' revolving around the 'floated theories' so far.

Besides raiding the Faridabad 'den' of Neelam, the 46-year-old 'madam' and 'supplier' of Deepika alias Payal to Moninder Singh Pandher, the CBI had also questioned about ten policemen deployed at Nithari 'chowki' between 2004 (ever since the children started disappearing from Nithari village) and December last when the case 'flashed'.

It has also sent all the materials recovered for postmortem, individualisation and DNA extraction, in order to individualise them and link them to the relatives of missing persons, pin-point the number of those killed and ascertain the 'real' recepients of the ex-gratia, along with registering 19 cases of kidnapping, rape and murder of children and women in this connection.

Yet, after more than ten days of investigations the CBI has failed to bring any solace to 'justice seekers' and the public in general as to the likely cause of the macabre incident which shook the nation, and its conscience.

Nearly 38 children went missing from Nithari village, having a population of nearly 6,000, in the last two years.

UNI