Nithari case: SC pulls up CBI for delaying Koli’s appeal against death

“This is not a high school where you can come out with lame excuses like sir my cycle tyre has punctured so there is delay. It is a question of life and death. The person is on the death row. You can’t delay it indefinitely,” the Bench said,when CBI counsel T A Khan sought further time to file certain documents.

The apex court said it had issued a notice to the agency on November 26 but it is yet to file a response.

“It is almost three months. What were you doing?” the Bench said reiterating that it involved a person who is on the death rows.

Later,the bench passed an order saying it was giving one last opportunity to CBI to file the documents within a week.

“It is made clear that there will be no further adjournments in the matter,” the bench said.

Earlier,the apex court had asked CBI to place all relevant records relating to the case before it for taking up the appeal.

The apex court had said it will hear Koli’s appeal along with the cross-appeal filed by victim Rimpa Haldar’s father Anil Haldar who has challenged the Allahabad High Court’s decision to acquit Moninder Singh Pandher,the other key accused and employer of Koli.

Koli was sentenced to death along with Pandher by the sessions court in Ghaziabad on February 13,2009,and the Allahabad High Court on September 11,2009 confirmed Koli’s death sentence while acquitted Pandher of the charges.

Aggrieved,Anil Haldar filed the appeal challenging Pandher’s acquittal and seeking restoration of the death sentence awarded by the sessions court.

The apex court has appointed Dr Sushil Balwada as amicus curiae to assist the court in the macabre serial rape and murder case.

In all,19 rape and murder cases were registered against Koli.

Earlier,the apex court had issued notice to CBI on the petition challenging acquittal of Pandher in one of the cases.

The apex court had also sought a response from Pandher on the petition filed by the family members of a victim against the Allahabad High Court verdict setting aside his conviction and death sentence awarded to him by the trial court.

Pandher’s house in Sector 20 Noida was the scene of the horrific rape and killings of girls and women nearly three years ago.

A special CBI court had in 2009 convicted both Pandher and Koli for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar,one of the several victims of the grisly killings in Nithari in 2007.