Accused in 2006 Nithari killings, Surinder Koli has been given death sentence for the murder of 12-year-old Dipali Sarkar. The verdict was announced on Wednesday by the Special Judge of the CBI court, AK Singh. Koli, who stood expressionless as the judgement was pronounced, told the court that he had not committed the crime and that he had been made a scapegoat.

CBI counsel JP Sharma, meanwhile, said the investigation agency had evidence against Koli. Sarkar?s family had identified her whiter colour chappals when the bodies were recovered from Moninder Singh Pandher?s house in Nithari. Koli had been working as domestic help for Pandher.

?The investigation agency also has reports of DNA test conducted on the remains of Diplai and her family and they matched. It is evident that Koli had killed the girls as stated by him in his confessional statement,? said the CBI counsel.

This is the fourth of total of 16 cases filed by the CBI in connection with the killing of 19 children and a young woman between 2005 and 2006.

It took court 126 days and 49 witnesses from CBI and one from Koli to hold Koli as convict.

Holding Koli responsible for the ?brutal? murder, the court said Koli deserved nothing less than death sentence for the heinous crime. ?Even the family members of the convict do not wish to meet him. He is a burden on humanity and if freed, he would prove fatal for the society. The court has no sympathy toward him,? read the order.

The court also levied Rs 2,000 penalty on Koli under different sections of the IPC. However, the court gave him 30 days for filing an appeal against the order.

Sarkar went missing on July 18, 2006. According to the FIR filed by her family, she went out to work at house numbers 816 and 819 at Sector-29. While her employers said she had left at the usual time, she did not return home. Eye witnesses had said they Sarkar in front of Pandher?s house.

During the narco test conducted on January 22, 2007, Koli confessed to killing Sarkar. On March 14, 2007 DNA of the victim and her family matched establishing she was killed at Pandher?s house in Noida.