The horror of Nithari

The Allahabad High court acquitted Moninder Singh Pandher, one of the main convicts in a Nithari murder case. The court upheld the death sentence of his domestic help Surinder Koli. Both Moninder Singh Pandher and Surinder Koli were given the death sentence for raping and murdering 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar who was murdered on February 8, 2005. The main line of argument of Pandher's lawyers was that he was in Australia when Rimpa was murdered. Five more cases in the Nithari killings are still pending against Pandher.(NDTV Photo) We bring you file pictures of how the Nithari horror unfolded and the national outrage over the gruesome killings years ago…

In this picture taken on January 5, 2007, children play in the village of Nithari, located in the largely affluent Noida township, on the outskirts of New Delhi. In 2005, the children of Nithari started to vanish without a trace. Residents, most of them migrant labourers from eastern India who work in factories, as domestic helps or as cycle-rickshaw pullers, said the police had failed to protect their loved ones. (AFP Photo)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on March 22, 2007 charged businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant, Surinder Koli, with the abduction, rape and murder of several people, mainly children, in the case dubbed the 'House of Horrors'. Here in this picture, a relative of missing child Anita Kaur, (R), and Geeta Pal, mother of missing child Rakesh Pal, (L) hold photographs of their children as they join in a rally at the culmination of the South Asian March Against Child Trafficking organised by Bachpan Bachao Andolan in New Delhi. (AFP Photo)

Moninder Singh Pandher is helped back on his feet as he lies on the ground after leaving a court in Ghaziabad on January 25, 2007. In a dramatic brawl, lawyers and bystanders beat unconscious one of two suspects after the pair were remanded in custody over the gruesome Nithari Killings. (AFP Photo)

Former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal gestures as he answers a question during a press conference on the last day of his tenure in New Delhi, on January 13, 2007. Sabharwal said Moninder Singh Pandher and Surender Koli, key suspects in the Nithari serial killings, were entitled to legal assistance. "An accused cannot be denied a fair trial and legal assistance just because the charges levelled against him are serious in nature," he told reporters. (AFP photo)

Children hold placards as they take part in a protest on January 11, 2007 against the serial killings of children at Noida. Moninder Singh Pandher and Surender Koli, Pandher's domestic help were brought back on January 11 from Gandhinagar in Gujarat after they were subjected to a narco-analysis test. Police had on December 29, 2007 recovered skulls and human remains from a drain behind Pandher's residence unearthing the serial killing of children and women.(AFP Photo)

Children hold placards as they take part in a protest against the serial killing of children at Noida on January 11, 2007. (AFP Photo)

Leader of the Republican Party of India, Ramdas Athvale (C) listens to the grievances of relatives of the missing children in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi on January 9, 2007, near the house of Moninder Singh Pandher. (AFP Photo)

Moninder Singh Pandher (C) walks with officials as he leaves The Intensive Care Unit of The Civil Hospital in Gandhinagar, some 30 km north of Ahmedabad, on January 9, 2007. Pandher was escorted by police officials to the Directorate of Forensic Sciences for Narco Analysis tests. (AFP Photo)

Children play on top of their house in Nithari village in Noida, the site of Moninder Singh Pandher's home, labelled as the "house of horrors". (AFP Photo)