On December 17, a police team drove into Pipalia village in Uttaranchal and asked for Nand Lal. And after half-an-hour, the team drove back, having convinced the village that Lal, the man who forced the police to investigate the Nithari killings, was lying and his daughter Payal was happily married and in Mumbai.

Less than two weeks later, Moninder Singh Pandher allegedly confessed that he had asked his servant Surender to kill Payal.

All the while that Lal was fighting to ensure that his daughter got justice, a large part of the probe was investigating him. On December 17, sub inspector Simranjit Kaur of the Nithari police, who took charge n 18 September 2006, went to investigate Lal in his village.

“Simranjit Kaur visited us and even had tea in my house,” says Ashish Kumar Bala, pradhan of Pipalia. “In fact, I was busy with a nasbandi camp and was specially sent for. She said she was investigating Nand Lal and spent nearly 20 minutes in our house asking us about him.”

Accompanied by four people dressed in civvies and one policeman in uniform, Kaur reportedly drove into the village in a Bolero.

During her visit to Pipalia, Kaur reportedly made queries about where Nand Lal lived and what he did. “And when we asked her about Payal, she categorically told us that the girl had eloped and was in Mumbai,” adds Bala. “She even added that teams had gone to Mumbai and checked out her whereabouts.”

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