CBI arrests former Nithari police officer

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Tushar Srivastava

New Delhi, March 21, 2007

Investigators in the Nithari serial-killing case on Wednesday arrested a dismissed police officer on charges of trying to shield the accused Moninder Singh Pandher and Surender Koli, when the case first surfaced in December last year.

Simranjit Kaur, a former Uttar Pradesh police sub-inspector who was in charge of the Nithari police post, was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for two hours after which she was arrested.

“Kaur was arrested in the case relating to the rape and murder of 26-year-old Payal. She was the first investigating officer of the case,” said CBI spokesman G Mohanty. “Investigations have revealed that she took gifts and gratification for herself and others from accused Moninder Singh Pandher and framed incorrect records with the intent to save Pandher and his servant Surender Koli from legal proceedings and punishment in the case.”

Pandher and Koli, accused of killing several children and women, were arrested after the recovery of skulls and other skeletal remains from the drains outside Pandher’s house in Noida, bordering Nithari. The CBI, which took over the case on January 10 following a public outcry over police inaction, has registered 18 cases of murder.