— PHOTO: PTI

CUP OF WOES: A group of street children, under the banner of `Badthe Kadam,' pray for the victims of the Noida serial killings, before submitting a memorandum to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: Nandlal's ordeal began on May 7, 2006, when his daughter Payal disappeared after going for an "interview" for a job at the house of Moninder Singh in Sector 31 of Noida, where the skeletal remains of over 30 missing children of Nithari village were found.

But for his persistence — despite the indifference and threats from the police and the charge of blackmail levelled against him by Moninder — the butchery of children may have continued. Now, even after leaving his house in Sector 19 of Noida, Mr. Nandlal is afraid the police will get him killed in a fake "encounter."

Phone call

He told reporters here on Wednesday that he received a call from Moninder's servant Surender on May 6 to send his daughter the next day for an interview. On May 7, his daughter set out in a rickshaw around 4 p.m., taking his mobile phone with her.

When she did not return by 6 p.m., he tried to contact her on the phone but found it switched off. Later that evening, he went in search of Payal, but could not find her.

Rickshaw puller's version

It took him a couple of days to locate Moninder's residence. Fortunately, while enquiring in the neighbourhood about his daughter, he came across the rickshaw puller, who said he dropped her at Moninder's house in Sector 31. The rickshaw puller later saw her emerge from the house and get into a car with two men.

Armed with this information, Mr. Nandlal went to the police stationwith the rickshaw puller, but the police agreed to lodge a complaint only after several trips. "I wanted to lodge an FIR of kidnapping, but the police forced me to say my daughter was missing."

Weeks went by without a trace of his daughter. Mr. Nandlal then approached the courts, and after this a proper FIR was lodged. "Moninder tried to prevent the FIR from being lodged. He charged me with blackmailing him in order to extort money."

"In sheer desperation, I wrote letters to the Chief Minister, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, the Prime Minister, to the National Women's Commission ... but to no avail." He blamed not only the police but also the entire administration for the tragedy that has befallen him, for it is almost certain that his daughter was murdered. Exactly where and how, he does not yet know.

Mr. Nandlal said the mobile service provider "took seven months to provide the call details and to trace the phone." At every step he found obstacles, he said and charged Moninder with using money to prevent the truth from coming out.

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