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.

... contd.