Police in the Nithari village of Noida, India, are investigating whether the deaths of at least 17 people, most of them children, may have some link to the human body parts trade.
The case starts with a missing young girl named Payal and the ensuing investigation by police of a local, Mr. Moninder Singh Pandher and his cook Surendra Kohliand. The police were said to track down Payal, the missing girl, by zeroeing in on Payal’s mobile phone, using the International Mobile Equipment Identification system. They tracked Payal’s mobile phone and found the child’s SIM card was not active but that the phone was being used. Having found the seller of the mobile phone, the seller led them to Mr. Moninder Singh Pandher, a local businessman. The cook was away at the time but police organized that Mr. Moninder’s driver go for him to bring him back for questioning and without suspicion of a police investigation.
A confession by the servant. Mr. Kohliand, led to a shocking find of parts of numerous corpses, mostly in bags, discovered in a drain behind the house on Friday 29th December, 2006. Victims’ skulls and limbs, mostly of children, were discovered in a sewer.
It is said that many torsos were missing and that an organ body parts trade may be the real reason behind the murders. Mr Sharma and Home Secretary, Mr Arun Kumar Singh, who comprise the UP government’s probe committee and who had visited the area meeting the parents and kin of the victims in Nithari village, has said allegations of organ trade as being a reason behind the killings appeared to be “speculative”. The Hindustan Times reported that eight persons received compensation on Tuesday by Mr. Sharma. To quote the Hindustan Times report: “Meanwhile, eight persons received compensation on Tuesday. ADGP A C Sharma and the state Home Secretary visited the site on Tuesday.”
Mr. Sharma further stated: “We have conducted post-mortem of the remains and we have also consulted experts in the matter, who have denied any organ removal from the victims. The reports in this regard are speculative,” he said. It has been reported by the Navhind Times that 15 of the 17 skeletons recovered had been identified and that the state government today (Tuesday 2nd January, 2006) distributed Rs 2 lakh each as compensation to the families of eight of the victims.