Koli killed Nithari kids, Pandher had no knowledge: CBI

The first chargesheet was in relation to the killing of 26-year-old Payal, who went missing in May, 2006. While Koli has been charged with kidnapping, rape, murder and destruction of evidence, Pandher has been charged with criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, offering bribes and under the Immoral Trafficking Act. The third accused in the FIR is dismissed sub-inspector Simranjit Kaur, charged with accepting bribes and fudging evidence.

The CBI submitted eight boxes full of documents in the court, the culmination of a nearly two-month-long probe.

Addressing a press conference, CBI Joint Director (Special Crime Investigation) Arun Kumar said that except “one or two cases” where they are still probing Pandher’s role, he “did not rape or murder” the Nithari victims and was “not even aware” of the killings carried out by Koli till the Noida police started digging up bones at his D-5, Sector 31, bungalow in December.

Koli, he said, murdered at least 19 women and children, and each time, Pandher was either out of the country or not present at the house.

The angle of organ trade was ruled out as the CBI recovered 69 bags of “bio-material” from the drain around D-5, including many organs. The DNA of eight victims has been matched.

Kumar gave details of their investigations supported by the findings of forensic and other experts and the lie-detector tests conducted on the two accused.

“There is no parallel anywhere in the world of two psychopaths living and doing crime together in the same house. Koli’s confession in court does not indict Pandher… and Koli’s extra-judicial confession indicates Koli was single-handedly capable of killing and dismembering his victims,” said the Joint Director.

According to the chargesheet, Koli is a “psychopath serial-killer with no empathy”. A board of doctors from AIIMS that examined him found him to be suffering from necrophilia (sexual attraction towards dead bodies), necrophagia (feeding on bodies), and paraphilia (obsession with unusual sexual practices).

Kumar said Koli strangulated most of his victims, then raped them and cut up the bodies into pieces, which were later packed in polythene bags and disposed of in the drain around the D-5 bungalow. “He used to take the bodies to a bathroom on the first floor, which was for his own exclusive use, allow them to bleed, then cut them up with a knife when he got the time. Pandher… never went to his servant’s bathroom… In fact he was hardly at D-5 for more than two days in a week and then too just spent nights there,” said Kumar.

In his confession before a Delhi magistrate this March, Koli said: “Initially I had named sahib (Pandher) as I thought he would save me… But how can anyone save me now?… So why should I name him when he is innocent. I had no accomplice in my crime.”

Kumar said Koli had reconstructed before them at AIIMS the way he murdered his victims. “He gave a live demonstration about how he used to cut the cadaver, dismember the bodies and dispose them of. We have videographed it and this is good evidence,” he said.

The Joint Director said Koli cooked the flesh of his first woman victim and ate it, the arm of his second victim he steamed in a pressure-cooker, while in the case of the the third, he tried to eat the liver raw and threw up. Koli reportedly said he never ate flesh again. “But the medical board (felt) he is mentally stable and did all his crimes in full consciousness and hence was fit to face trial,” said the CBI Joint Director.

According to Kumar, at the time of the first two murders —- February 8, 2005, and March 15, 2005 —- Pandher was on an island in Australia. “In nine other cases, he was not in Noida on the day the victims went missing. In five other cases when the victims went missing, his cellphone (records) showed he was in Noida but not present in Sector 31 for the entire day. In all the cases, Koli has admitted to killing his victims within three-four hours of luring them into the house, implying he carried out his act when Pandher was not home,” says Kumar.

The Joint Director said Koli broke down during interrogation when they showed him the mobile phone of Payal, which he had used for some time after murdering her.

Kumar added that while Pandher had bribed Uttar Pradesh police officials, it was because he had been called for questioning over prostitution rackets. “Pandher had been called by the police earlier for investigation of some prostitution rackets and he was scared for his reputation… He used to get call girls and felt guilty as he thought due to his activities police had started troubling Koli too. That is why he bribed police to get Koli off the hook… He never imagined Koli could have murdered anyone as he thought him to be a docile man. Pandher says in his narco statement that Koli used to take good care of him… In fact Pandher also hired a private detective in Delhi to trace Payal (while) the Allahabad court was dwelling on his anticipatory bail plea. He never knew Payal had been murdered by Koli,” said Kumar.

The chargesheet quotes Pandher’s narco-analysis statement, in which he says: “I am not a half-woman to poke my nose in the kitchen and other rooms of my house to find out what is going on… That is why I have landed in so much trouble.”

‘Koli ate flesh of at least 2 victims’

• Koli main accused, charged with kidnapping, rape, murder and destruction of evidence

• Pandher accused of criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, offering bribes and under the Immoral Trafficking Act

• Sub-Inspector Simranjit Kaur charged with accepting bribes, fudging evidence

• Except “one or two cases” still being probed, CBI says Pandher “did not rape or murder” the Nithari victims, was “not even aware” of the killings, and each time, was either out of the country or not present at the house

• Organ trade ruled out

• AIIMS board found Koli suffering from necrophilia (sexual attraction towards dead bodies), necrophagia (feeding on bodies), and paraphilia (obsession with unusual sexual practices)

• Koli ate flesh of at least two victims before he tried to eat the liver of the third and threw up. Koli says he never ate flesh again

• Koli broke down when confronted with the mobile phone of Payal, which he had used for some time