Photo: Sandeep Saxena

SERIAL MURDER CASE: Residents staging a protest against the serial murders at Nitari village, Noida turned violent on Monday and pelted stones at the police.

NEW DELHI: Tension prevailed on Monday near the Noida house of Mohinder Singh Pandher, accused of killing several children. Local residents fought pitched battles with the police, four days after the recovery of skeletal remains of children from a gutter outside the house. A crowd attacked the house of a doctor, Mohinder Singh's neighbour, alleging his involvement in the macabre killings. The doctor was allegedly involved in a kidney racked busted by the police two years ago. The crowd hurled stones and bricks at the doctor's residence, breaking the doors and windowpanes. Police resorted to a mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

"It is not a case of sexual abuse and murder. There is more to it than meets the eye. We suspect that an organised illegal human organs racket was being run by the accused along with the doctor," said Hari Shankar, a resident. "The doctor's house should be searched. A few local residents should be allowed to accompany the search team. We suspect [that] both houses are connected by a tunnel."

Senior Superintendent of Police (Noida) R.K.S. Rathore said vested interests were trying to politicise the situation. "The post-mortem reports have not established the illegal human organs trade angle. Still we carried out a search of the doctor's house and the Noida Medicare Centre that he owns, but did not find anything suspicious,'' he said.

Mr. Rathore said the search for skeletons from the gutter near the house had been completed and 17 skulls were recovered during the four-day search. "We have sent the skeletal remains for forensic and DNA testing to laboratories in Agra and Hyderabad to establish the identity of deceased," he said.

Nine victims identified

Nine victims had been identified based on the confession of Surender, alias Satish, Mohinder Singh's servant. Three persons, including a 42-year-old domestic help of the accused,had been detained for questioning. ``The domestic help is being questioned to know more about the lifestyle of the accused. Two more people have been detained as part of the investigations," said Mr. Rathore. The former Rajya Sabha MP, D. P. Yadav, who visited the site on Monday afternoon, said the role of the local police had come under a cloud following the recovery of the skeletons and demanded that the Centre order an impartial inquiry. "The accused should be handed out the strictest possible punishment," he said.

Families arrive

Families of missing children have started arriving at the site from far-flung areas such as Indirapuram and the national Capital. ``We are keeping the photographs of the children to show them to the accused," said Mr. Rathore.

The local court on Monday extended the police custody of the two accused till January 10.

They were produced in the court on the expiry of their two-day police custody. The magistrate also granted permission for narco-analysis tests on them.

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