Judgment in second Nithari case to be delivered on April 25

Ghaziabad, April 15: The judgment in second Nithari rape and murder case of 8-year-old Aarti will be delivered by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Judge on April 25.

Aarti was the last known victim in the Nithari killings, having disappeared just about two months before the case was busted.

In the previous judgment in the Nithari killings, the special CBI court on February 12 awarded the death sentence to Moninder Singh Pandher and Surinder Koli for their respective roles in the Rampa Haldar murder case.

Just like in Halder murder case, the CBI has given a clean chit to Pandher primarily on the basis of his cellphone records, while holding only Koli guilty of the crime.

Unlike Rampa's father, Aarti's parents Durga and Neelam Prasad have never challenged CBI"s contention that Koli alone was the culprit.

Aarti had reportedly returned home from school on the afternoon of October 25, 2006 after which she went out to buy herself some toffees.

However, she never came back. A report about Aarti going missing was then taken down at the Sector 20 police station in Noida.

On December 29, 2006, Aarti's remains were found buried behind Pandher's home in Nithari. oth Pandher and Koli are accused of killing and disposing off the bodies of 19 children and a young woman between 2005 and 2006.

The investigation of the case was handed over to the CBI on January 11, 2007. The CBI has filed chargesheets in 16 cases. Chargesheets in the remaining three cases are still awaited. ANI)