The court was giving its verdict in the second case of the infamous Nithari killings.
The court will hear arguments on the quantum of punishment to Koli on Wednesday.
The body parts of Arti, a kindergarten student, had been recovered from a drain behind Pandher's house in Ghaziabad but Pandher was not made a co-accused by the CBI in the killing of the girl.
Arti's father Durga Prasad said that he was not “satisfied” with the verdict and would file an appeal. He said Pandher should also have been chargesheeted in the matter.
According to the prosecution, Arti left her home on September 25, 2006, to purchase some chocolates but never came back. Her father thereafter had lodged a report with the police.
The CBI had registered 19 cases of rape, abductions and murder in connection with Nithari killings but had submitted chargesheets in only 16 cases. Arti’s is the second case in which the court has given its verdict.
In the first verdict last year the court had sentenced Koli and Pandher to death in the killing of 14-year-old Rimpa Halder, one of the victims of Nithari killings. On appeal, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Pandher citing lack of evidence but upheld the sentencing of Koli.
Pandher, however, was still an accused in the other cases pertaining to Nithari killings. Both Pandher and Koli had been accused of killing and disposing of the bodies of 19 children and a young woman between 2005 and 2006.
The skeletons of the children had been recovered from a sewer behind Pandher’s plush D-5 bungalow in Noida's Sector 31. The human skulls were stuffed in 57 gunny bags along with 700 bone pieces.
The investigation of the case was handed over to the CBI on January 11, 2007. The CBI has filed chargesheets in 16 cases. Chargesheets in the remaining three cases are still awaited.
