Case Study- Noida serial murders (Nithari Case)

Noida serial murders (Nithari Case)

Context

A gruesome case of many murders, rapes, necrophilia and cannibalism was unraveled when many children and women went missing from a village name Nithari. ‘Human skeleton’ were thus discovered behind a bungalow in Noida, New Delhi.

Background of the case

A huge number of women and children reportedly went missing in Sector 31 of the Nithari village, in 2003, in Noida, New Delhi. This abnormal disappearance was only seen after a new domestic help, Surinder Koli, arrived in the area.

Koli was hired by Moninder Singh who was the owner of the Bungalow D-35 in Noida. He used to live in Chandigarh and hired Koli for the maintenance of the bungalow.

In February 2005, a 14-year-old young girl went missing. Her parents and relatives tried filing a complaint which went ignored due to corrupt police officials.

In March 2005, some children playing cricket behind this Bungalow area, found a human hand in a plastic bag in a drain. The incident was notified to the police. The police took it very casually and declared the findings to be of animal carcass and suggested the villagers to forget this incident.

In May 2006, Payal, another young girl informed her father that she is going to the Singh bungalow. Payal went missing after that day. Her father tried to find her with the help of the villagers but failed. He soon went to the police to file a missing report but the police was as casual as usual. Her father finally informed about her missing daughter to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the Noida police station in June, 2006.

The SSP ordered his officials and a formal complaint was filed. The investigations begin soon after. The police was able to track down Payal’s phone. They found that the phone was still in use and the location traced back to Singh’s Bungalow. They also managed to track down the call details and it was found that the last call was made to Surinder Koli.

Koli was arrested for questioning into these missing cases of women and children. Soon, with his money and power, Moninder Singh managed to release Koli from the arrest. Due to lack of evidence, the police was bound to release Koli for this matter.

Payal’s father did not give up and approached the judiciary with hope to find her missing daughter in October 2006.

Evidences found

Skeletons in more plastic bags were found in the drain behind the Singh bungalow. But this was not enough to prove the mystery behind the missing cases.

Investigation

Many more skeletons were dug out from the same area as that of the bungalow and the missing of women and children started to make sense. A CBI team was appointed to look into the case as it no longer remained a local case, it became a national matter.

Confessions

After 60 days of arrest of Koli and him being investigated by the CBI, the department requested to record his confession.

Koli’s confession was recorded. He gave details of how he managed to lure the victims inside the bungalow on the pretext of giving them employment as additional domestic help and committed all the crimes.

He managed to lure 9 female children, 5 adult women and 2 male children. He began with murdering them and later would commit rape with the dead bodies. He would then chop the dead bodies into small pieces and eat the human meat. He then threw the remaining residues of the dead bodies in the drain behind the bungalow.

Koli also gave account of the presence of additional domestic helps including- a gardener, a female domestic help, and two drivers. He would commit these crimes in broad day light in the living-room of the bungalow between 9 AM to 4 PM.

After committing the murder, he would take the dead body to the bathroom upstairs, rape and chop it. He would leave the bathroom in the bloody mess, have his dinner (cooked meat of the dead bodies), come back and clean the bathroom and the living-room.

Postmortem reports

The doctor who conducted the postmortem informed that some of the bodies which were discovered, had precision in its cuts and their might be a possible suspicion of organ trade.

Surprising Questions

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) was also involved in the case and they ruled out the possibilities of organ trade which led to many questions which needed to be answered to solve the case.

• The additional domestic helpers were never tried or arrested as a witness. Why?

• Singh’s claims of having no idea about the happenings in his bungalow. How?

• No modus operandi was seen in the selection of the victims. They were rather random. The intention behind the crimes was questionable.

• The bodies were found in the drain which was reportedly not “too deep”. No body complained about any foul smell (due to decomposition). Why?

• Since the crimes were committed in day light, how come no one in the locality witnessed the disposal of the dead bodies?

• The decomposition process takes at least 3 years. Even the recent dead bodies were found with only bones and skulls. How?

Verdict

Both Singh and Koli were found guilty. Moninder Singh was charged as an accomplice of Koli. He was aware of all the crimes Koli committed and yet did not bother to inform these heinous crimes to the police.

The final verdict is still pending. Hearings on this case are still on.