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Fri, 22nd Aug, 2008


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NITHARI: The visible and invisible victims

The 2006 Noida serial murder investigation began on 29 December 2006 when the skulls and bones of a number of missing children were discovered in the village of Nithari on the outskirts of Noida city. A rich and politically connected Punjabi businessman, Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surender Koli had been apprehended on the suspicion of murder of a call girl named Payal by the Noida Police on December 26, 2006. It was not an easy struggle for Nand Lal. His daughter Payal disappeared on May 7, 2007. Payal was carrying a cell phone with her. According to Nandlal, Payal had gone to Moninder's house but did not return .Nandlal reached the police station in Noida on May 8,2007 itself with a named complaint against Moninder and Surinder. It was the first time that a named complaint against Moninder and Surinder was given to the police.But the police turned a blind eye to it. Nandlal met the Senior superintendent of police R.K.S. Rathore about half a dozen times apart from meeting other officers of the district innumerable times but all his pleas for action against the named culprits fell on deaf ears . Finally he had to take the help of the district court of Noida.

Nandlal gave a complaint to the chief judicial magistrate of Noida under Section 156 (3)CrPc requesting the court to get an FIR registered against Moninder and Surinder He was certain from May 7 itself that the two of them were responsible for the disappearance of his daughter.He also stated that police had not paid any attention to his complaint of the disappearance of Payal, nor had it lodged an F.I.R .inspite of a named report against Moninder and Surinder. He therefore requested the court to get a report lodged under sections 363,366 of the indian penal code..The court asked the police station sector 20 to give a report about the facts of the matter. On receiving the letter from the court the sector 20 police station filed a reply stating that "Deepika alias Payal was an adult. She was having an affair with a boy and had run away with him"The court was not satisfied and asked the noida police to lodge an F.I.R.. Moninder was advised by Dinesh Yadav to file a revision application in the District Judge's court which he did. On October 6, 2006, the court ordered Noida police to immediately file an F.I.R against the 2 accused. An F.I.R. was finally registered on October 7, 2006 , exactly 5 months after Payal's disappearance. But the Noida police was still bent upon saving the two accused. Moninder was advised by Dinesh Yadav to go against the order to the Allahabad high court..After getting instructions from R.K.S.Rathore- the then S.S.P,the circle officer -Dinesh yadav himself along with Simranjeet kaur-the chowki incharge of Nithari went to file an affidavit in favour of Moninder Singh and Surinder. The most amazing thing was their tickets to and fro Allahabad were paid for by Moninder Singh. (this has already been verified by CBI.).As if this was not enough, Moninder and Surinder were called to the police station in front of Nandlal. Nandlal was abused and beaten up before these 2 accused . He was accused of running a prostitution racket and involving his daughter and daughter in law in it.After that Surinder and Moninder were released and escorted to their home in D-5,sector 31, Noida. It is ironical that Nandlal ," who was the whistle blower in this case has alleged that his son Prakash and daughter in law Priya were beaten up by the Noida police in front of Dinesh Yadav. They were also made to sign a confession stating that his daughter Payal was a prostitute" (Hindustan times feburary 3, 2007) In fact Simranjit kaur the chowki incharge of Nithari went to Pipalia -the village of Nandlal and told the villagers that Payal was a prostitute (Indian Express –jan 4, 2007)

Once the case was registered even then the police did not arrest the duo. "The breakthrough came from Payal's nokia 1100 number 9891115404..The unspooling of the mystery began in December 2006 when an international mobile equipment identifier(IMEI)a 15 digit number unique to every cellular handset flashed on the screen of a cellular phone company. This handset belonged to Payal- Nandlal's daughter who was missing since may 7, 2007".(India Today –jan 15,2007.) The firm alerted Vinod Pandey ,a sub inspector of Noida police who traced it to Surinder –the man who worked for Moninder.After sustained interrogation by him, Surendra confessed to killing Payal, dismembering her body and dumping it in the drain behind the house.But before police could reach the grieving, kins of the victims had started taking the skeletons out of the drain. The media also reached and any cover up operation by senior officials to protect the duo became impossible.
As the matter started gathering hype, on December 31,2006 , some policemen were suspended. They were the previous station officers of sec 20 police station- R.N.Singh , Deepak chaturvedi . Along with them 3 previous chowki incharges - Rajiv Baliyan,Vinod Pandey and K.P. Singh were also suspended in connection with the serial murders of children in Noida. The then station officer B.P. Singh Yadav was just transferred to the police lines. Even Vinod Pandey who had worked out the case was suspended ( Maybe his bosses were angry at him for opening a case which they had been trying to hush up despite court's orders.)" The policemen were suspended for dereliction of duty in the wake of the allegations by the locals that the cops had refused to take any action when they were informed about a number of children missing in this industrial township. It was a surprise for these cops as B.P.Singh, the person in whose tenure as many as four cases were not registered even as a missing complaint, was only transferred.!

Noida police came under fire for continued lapses even after the incident came under media glare. Some of these lapses are listed below :

	Even after the skeletons were discovered, the noida police did not seal the house

	The bones were lifted without coating powder. (dainik hindustan -january 10,2007)

	Fingerprints were not taken before conducting search in the house

	Local residents were allowed to come and go as they please from the house

	Forensic team was taken after most evidence had already been disturbed or destroyed

	Did not try and find out whether or not Surinder was impotent.

	The noida police did not bother to even investigate( the nala where remains were discovered) thoroughly.As a result, when the C.B.I., took over , they discovered a lot of bags with skeletons. (When asked why they did not investigate the nala thoroughly, the then S.S.P Rathore said that they were to busy crowd controlling to investigate properly.- in other words, he had time to give exclusive interviews and be a part of chat shows on n.d.t.v.,cnn ibn and other news channels but did not have time to investigate the most sensitive case of the year. He very shrewdly succeeded in misleading the media by lying about the dates of the disappearances and put the entire blame for the lapses on his predecessor who till then was nowhere in the picture. )

	At every stage of the investigation, there were planned leaks creating confusion

	From day 1, rathore denied the cannibalism angle. While senior officers confirmed it,Rathore denied that Surendra , the servant of Moninder ate the flesh of his victims. (The times of india . 7.1.2007)

	He did not take any action against the nithari station officer B.P.Singh who was the only one in whose tenure four children went missing and still even a missing persons report was not lodged .Probably,Rathore- The senior superintendent of police, Dinesh Yadav-the circle officer, B.P .Singh-the station officer, Simranjit Singh –the chowki incharge of nithari all realized the gravity of the situation. If media came to know about their lapses they would all be under fire – It appears that they decided to save each others skin–Station officer B.P. Singh Yadav threatened that if strict action was taken against him, he would open his mouth and reveal that it was Rathore who had phoned him and asked him to release Moninder and Surinder and then he indicatively conveyed to Dinesh Yadav that he would be left with no option but to reveal to the press that Dinesh had gone to Allahabad to file an affidavit in favour of Moninder in the Allahabad High Court and that Moninder had paid for his to and fro journey –The travel vouchers were later found by the C.B.I in their raid. Three of them being thakur / yadav and simranjit singh being very close to SSP Rathore (as it was he who gave her the charge of such a sensitive post even though she had just been reinstated after having being dismissed from police as a sting by star news had caught her taking bribe,) they decided to use their political mentors help- Dinesh was related to Shivpal Singh Yadav who was the brother of the chief minister,and with Rathore it was not only the caste which was an important factor (seeing the fact that elections were round the corner) his house in Mainpuri is near the c.m's relatives houses in Mainpuri .Besides , his family is supposed to be very close to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. That is the reason why during Mulayam Singh's chief ministership,he not only superceded 7 officers of his batch and was promoted but right after promotion ,his first charge as SSP. was that of Noida. His colleague officers have even gone to the court against his promotion. Interestingly, the man who was rallying behind all the parents of the murdered children in Nithari – Satish Misra is also from Mainpuri.It was he who arranged the interviews of all these people with the press

	In a case of this enormity the Noida police it seemed did not know what to do. So it decided to go for a narco analysis test – a test which as evidence is not acceptable in the court. It seemed that Noida police had a very acute shortage of officers and Dinesh Yadav who had taken the money from Pandher was asked to go by Rathore for the narco analysis. The logic behind this must have been that if Surinder/ Moninder took the names of any of these cops, the statement could be suppressed. And the same happened – in the narco analysis recording of Surinder and Moninder as shown by the news channel IBN 7, Surinder says that bribe was given to Dinesh Yadav who was a frequent visitor at D-5 which was Moninder's residence . What an ironical situation –the same cops whose involvement was beyond doubt were investigating the case and the ministers of the state government were praising their efforts.In fact Shivpal Singh Yadav, brother of chief minister, visited noida on January 4 ,2007 and described the ghoulish nithari murders as small and routine incidents. He praised the present group of offficers for opening the case.(times of india jan 5, 2007. Navbharat times jan 5, 2007)Everyone was hand in glove and so scapegoats were needed and it was decided that one senior officer needs to be made a scapegoat as only then the press and the political parties would remain silent.

	The insensitive attitude of these cops towards the residents was clearly visible by the fact that lathi charge was done time and again on the grieving families.It was as we say in psychology carrot and stick policy. (we'll come to the carrot later.)

	The investigation that was being done was also very shoddy. It seems that the u.p police was either not efficiently trained or they were trying to look as if they were active without producing any result. Therefore nothing else besides narco test was done. When they wanted to take these 2 accused in remand, initially Dinesh Yadav, did not apppear in the court. It was only when the court objected that he went in person. Maybe he was scared either of the 2 accused might open their mouth before the court..or he did not want the police to get the remand.

	When Anant was kidnapped ,Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force(S.T.F) was immediately asked to help. In a case of this enormity, not only initially attempts were made to keep C.B.I out, no other investigative agency of U.P was allowed to help.All such things are done only when there is a cover up operation going on.

	The phone records and corresponding cell locations are basic tools in any police investigation. Why did the Noida Police which is supposed to be one of the best in electronic surveillance in U.P., not investigate the phone records or could it be that the cops did not want the phone records to be examined as they / their mentors were in touch with Moninder.

	When Moninder was initially arrested, an industrialist had called up the S.S.P –Mr Rathore, after which Rathore called up the police station and ordered Moninder and Surinder's release . After that,despite the court's orders every attempt was made to protect Moninder and delay his arrest. Since then , the noida police never called Moninder for questioning .This industrialist was not questioned by the Noida Police even after the case came to light.

	Once the incident came to light,the Noida police decided to make every possible person a scapegoat to protect themselves.The owner of Noida Medical Centre Dr. Naveen Choudhary's house was raided twice even though time and again the S.S.P kept falsifying the organ trade theory. If you were saying with full conviction that no organ trade is involved then why did you order raids on his house.

	Even majority of the neighbours were not questioned.

	Who was the rickshaw puller with whom Payal's mobile was found and why was he not questioned.

	When the angle of serial killing came in a psychiatrist should have been called in by the police which it did not do.

	In a case of this sensitivity Surinder's initial confessions were not taken in front of a magistrate and hence are not valid in the court. Was the polce scared that Surinder might reveal something which they wanted to hide and so did not call the magistrate

THE NITHARI COVER UP

	Once, the Circle officer Dinesh Yadav and the S.S.P –Rathore, realized that a committee has been formed to look into the lapses and ommisions which have taken place they decided to save themselves.They realized that the axe will fall on them unless they direct it on someone else.On 2nd and 3rd January2007 , Rathore did nothing else but gave exclusive interviews to all channels. He always tried to portray that it was the earlier police which did not take any action when a named complaint was filed against Monider and Surinder by Nandlal - father of missing Deepika alias Payal. Similarly he kept saying that the earlier police had arrested and released Moninder and Surinder. In both cases instead of saying earlier the police , he said the earlier police. It will not be proper to assume that he did not know his grammar well.He intentionally twisted his words and changed the whole meaning.By saying that it was the earlier police he indirectly and unspokenly put the blame on his predecessor while if he had said that it was earlier (i.e in the month of august 2006) and not now the blame would have come on him( as he had taken the charge of Noida on 28 april 2007) Just a twist of dates and words and he saved his skin. Payal had disappeared on may 7,2007 when R.K.S.Rathore was the SSP but in his interviews ,he said that 'PEHLAE KI POLICE NE DARZ NAHI KI HAI" meaning the earlier police had not registered.Though the earlier SSP Piyush Mordia had been transferred out on April 27, 2007 and the incident of Payal's disappearance had taken place ten days after his transfer.

	It was fortunate for him and Dinesh Yadav that Satish Misra – who became the spokesperson of the nithari victims was also from mainpuri and a close friend of Rathore's family. He managed to convince some of the families of the Nithari victims and promised to more than double the compensation amount if they spoke in favour of Rathore and Dinesh Yadav.They were told that if they succeeded in convincing the media that it was the earlier police that was at fault, their compensation would be increased.Compensation cheques would also be given only after they gave statements to the media.Parents like Nandlal and others who refused were beaten up by the police and were not allowed to come before the media or other officials .A select few whom the police thought they could rely on along with Satish Chandra Misra were chosen to be the spokespersons of all the families.Out of fear or greed these few people as parrots recited before the media that the earlier police did not register their complaints but the present police was good. (a statement which was prooved wrong as d.n.a.matches and surinder's confessions went on to show.)The desired effect was achieved and among the officers suspended instead of Rathore under whom all the lapses had taken place Piyush Mordia had been suspended . These interviews were given on1st and 2nd and it was on 3rd january, that Piyush Mordia and Saumitra were suspended. The axe had fallen and so as promised by Dinesh and Rathore, on 4th January itself, ,Shivpalsingh Yadav, the brother of the chief minister himself came and delivered the promised s3 lakhs to these people in addition to the already given 2 lakhs as compensation.

THE ENQUIRY COMMITTEE

	A high-level two-member inquiry committee was constituted by the UP government to look into how the police handled the complaints of missing children— The two members AC Sharma, ADG (Law and Order) and AK Sinha, Home Secretary were supposed to reach noida on 1st January but were held up in Lucknow.Maybe their briefing was not complete but the delay gave Rathore and Dinesh Yadav the desired time to manage the scene in Nithari. They arrived on Jan 2, 2007 and were received by Dinesh Yadav and B.P .Singh, the two officers who were later found to be hand in gloves with the accused of nithari .They were made to meet only 5 families.Amar Kumar-uncle of Deepali Sarkar, Ashok Kumar father of Max,,Anil haldar father of Rimpa Haldar , Jhabbu lal father of Jyoti and James Thapa,father of Nisha. All of them had been fully tutored and so the statements which they gave to the committee were such that would throw a favourable light on Rathore and Yadav. e.g-Ashok kumar in his statement to the committee said that after registering his FIR, he met chowki incharge K.P.Singh,station officer-R.N.Singh,Circle officer-Sevak Ram and Additional S.P.Saumitra Yadav. In his statement, he alleged that R.n. Singh said that why do u produce so many children and SevakRam threatened to register a "shanti bhang"i.e violation of peace complaint against him His statement further goes on to praise B.P. Singh who he says gave him complete help in searching for his child. Similarly James Thapa in his written statement criticizes R.N.Singh and Vinod pandey but says that the circle officer Dinesh Yadav promised him every possible help .He went on to praise R.K.S.. Rathore .According to JamesThapa , Rathore gave him his mobile number and said that he could call him anytime without hesitation. Amar Kumar criticized chowki incharge Anuj Kumar, Vinod Pandey ,Deepak Chaturvedi and Addl.S.P. Saumitra Yadav. Anil Haldar stated that his F.I.R. was not lodged and finally he gave a written application to Chhote singh, chowki incharge . Jhabbu lal stated that he went to Deepak chaturvedi, Kamal singh and R.n.singh and also circle officer Sevakram yadav but nobody paid any attention. The interesting point here is that all of them praised R.K.S.Rathore ,Dinesh yadav and B.P. Singh Yadav. (In fact that these residents had been doctored, threatened and also promised heavy sums was clear from the tehelaka sting operation , after which Rathore and Dinesh yadav were transferred ; Dinesh was subsequently suspended due to media pressure. It was these very people under Satish Misra who came all out in support of these two officers . Not only did they stage demonstrations in front of the police office in noida against these transfers ,they also took a delegation to Lucknow to convince the chief minister that Dinesh yadav and Rathore had done excellent work(Hindustan times feb 5, 2007).In fact these people held a press conference at hotel President in Kanpur,the victims kin took the dais and started singing paeans to mulayam, his clan and the Samajwadi party. They spoke more as Samajwadi party spokespersons rather than bereaved parents(The times of India feb 6, 2007). They gave a clean chit not only to the state government but also to the then noida police including Dinesh Yadav and R.K.S. Rathore who had been transferred and whose reinstatement they time and again demanded.The kin remained silent on queries like what made them stay in Kanpur, who sponsored the trip, including the qualis car which they had hired on Saturday and how can they forgive those who were responsible for the serial killing of their kins. 'Better ask Panditji"( i.e Satish Chandra misra- the mainipuri connection)said Pappu lal. Just a couple of months back a big fight took place between the kins of the victims who were on satish misra's side and kins of victims who were not with Misra.This matter was even brought to the knowledge of the court.

	It was very obvious by the statements made that all 5 witnesses were tutored and so they all made it a point to praise only three officers namely, BP. Singh, Dinesh Yadav and R.K.S.Rathore. It is such an irony that when these witnesses were giving their statements to the committee,Mr. Rathore was present there virtually the whole time.Not only that when other police personnel were giving their statements,even then he was present there. It is therefore very surprising that even though he accompanied the committee ,in the notesheet of the file in the home department , it is mentioned that the statement of Rathore could not be taken Even the c.b.i in its press conference has stated that" before may 7, 2006 , this was a blind case. The first time when the names of these 2 accused came to light was after may 7." when Rathore and not Mordia was the S.S.P. How could the 2 member committee not realize it. There was no mention of Rathore or Yadav in the interim report, but it recommended action against three senior police officers — Mordia, Saumitra Yadav and SR Yadav, and six junior officers — Vinod Pandey, Rajiv Baliyan, KP Singh, Simranjit Kaur who were in-charge of the police post — and SOs RN Yadav and Deepak Chaturvedi. Though no charges existed against Mordia,he was suspended while the 2 officers whom later both the C.B.I and the court found guilty went scot-free. This 2 member committee completed its investigation in one and a half days-an investigation which the C.B.Iwith all its resources could not not finish before a few months. These 2 members came on the 2nd of January, went back on the 3rd of January and within 2-3 hours, made the report ,arrived at the conclusion and late in the evening, a press conference was held and the dismissals and suspensions announced. How can 6 people be dismissed from service on the basis of a few hrs of enquiry and that too when only a few victims kins were met.! Nandlal, -( father of Payal,) because of whose persistence this whole case opened was not allowed to meet the committee.In fact he was virtually kidnapped from outside IndiaTV's office and was not allowed to meet the committee. The committee did not realize that the whole case had come to light because of Payal's mobile being traced. The next day,when the newspapers raised the fact that Payal 's missing report was not registered in May 2006 inspite of a named complaint against Moninder and Surinder and that Nandlal had to take the help of the court while noida police headed by R.k.S.Rathore tried their best to protect the 2 accused. the committee realized the blunder they had committed. But the announcements of the dismissals and suspensions had already been made.So,they decided to come up with yet another report.So without coming to Noida again they wrote another report.This they called it the final report. In this they described the whole case of Payal in detail .The committee wrote that if police under Rathore had acted timely on Nandlal's complaint,7 more lives could have been saved.For this they recommended major punishment for him.It is very ironical that though in the preliminary report no charges could be fixed on Mordia but he was suspended .While Rathore- whom even the committee in it's second report blamed for the loss of 7 lives, in whose tenure even the missing report of 4 children was not registered – is till date repentless and no action has been taken against him .

THE INVISIBLE VICTIMS

	The children killed by Surinder are the visible victims of Nithari but Nithari had other invisible victims as well. These were those people whose whole life went topsy turvy for no fault of theirs. They were those against whom action was taken by the government even though they were not at fault. Just imagine how difficult survival must have been for those dismissed from service because of the Nithari tag. It is very easy for politicians and senior officers to take action just to pacify people but how can we forget that this job provided food for their families, milk for their little ones .Why did nobody try to find out how these people who after being dismissed had no source of income left manage to pay the schoolfees for their children. How diffuclt it was for them to arrange money to get medicines for their ailing parents- these people had become untouchables – No one was ready to help them .Instead of going through the mental trauma which these people underwent if one of them would have decided to give up and end his life who would have been responsible? If a person is guilty then he should definitely be punished but if an officer is innocent – then such actions are enough to change his whole outlook towards his profession. If we want a progressive country where police officers have a human face ,if we want our children to grow in a secure environment then ,we must ensure that honest, hardworking and straightforward officers are not made scapegoats by politicians. Along with that we must also ensure that cops who are guilty of protecting perpetrators of such inhuman crime do not go unpunished. How can the souls of the victims of Nithari rest in peace ,how can we pay homage to these children when we know that not only their murderers but also the protector of these ….are sleeping in peace!