In the end, it was only the servant who did it. Investigations into the horrific Nithari killings in Noida, which forced the Mulayam Singh government on the backfoot in the wake of the Opposition demand for imposition of governors rule in Uttar Pradesh, drew to a close with the CBI virtually giving a clean chit to businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and putting the blame for the killings on his servant Surinder Koli.

The revelation, which has immediately prompted protests from relatives of the victims of Nithari, was made by the CBI on Thursday in its first chargesheet filed at the designated court in Ghaziabad. Describing Koli as a necrophiliac, a person who has sexual interest in dead bodies, the CBI claimed he carried out all the murders when his employer was away from his house in Noida. The CBI has also implicated dismissed sub-inspector Simranjeet Kaur, who has been arrested for her role in obstructing law.

Addressing a press conference, CBI Joint director Arun Kumar said Koli has confessed to have killed 16 persons and the main investigations have been based on the confessions made by him. Pandher is understood to be accused of destruction of evidence, shielding his servant and suppressing facts. While admitting that it could be surprising, he said Pandher had no idea about the murders which had always taken place in his house whenever he was not there.

He was not all aware that murders were going on in his house...being committed by Koli, Kumar said. He was abroad when three murders took place, out of Noida on nine other occasions and not present in the locality when five killings happened, Kumar said. The investigating agency said Pandher was dependent on alcohol and regularly solicited women for sexual pleasure, but was not a psychopath.