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A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Tuesday found Surender Koli guilty of the murder of seven-year-old Aarti, one of the 19 women and children from Noida's Nithari village whose body parts were found in a drain. Aarti was the last known victim in the Nithari killings, having disappeared just about two months before the case was busted. In the previous judgment in the Nithari killings, the special CBI court on February 12 awarded the death sentence to Moninder Singh Pandher and Surinder Koli for their respective roles in the Rampa Haldar murder case. Just like in Halder murder case, the CBI has given a clean chit to Pandher primarily on the basis of his cellphone records, while holding only Koli guilty of the crime. Unlike Rampa's father, Aarti's parents Durga and Neelam Prasad have never challenged CBI's contention that Koli alone was the culprit. Aarti had reportedly returned home from school on the afternoon of October 25, 2006 after which she went out to buy herself some toffees. However, she never came back. A report about Aarti going missing was then taken down at the Sector 20 police station in Noida. On December 29, 2006, Aarti's remains were found buried behind Pandher's home in Nithari. Both Pandher and Koli are accused of killing and disposing off the bodies of 19 children and a young woman between 2005 and 2006. The investigation of the case was handed over to the CBI on January 11, 2007. The CBI has filed chargesheets in 16 cases.

Nithari murder case: Surender Koli found guilty of seven-year-old's murder