An Indian court on Friday overturned the death sentence of a wealthy businessman for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl on the outskirts of the capital, lawyers and relatives said. The girl's family will appeal the verdict in the country's supreme court, in a long-running case involving the killings of many children and young women that raised questions of prejudice and negligence in India's police force. The public outcry against the killings and the protests of the victims' families, who came from poor backgrounds, put the spotlight on the country's police force, often accused of prejudice against caste and financial status. Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant, Surender Koli, had been sentenced to death by a special court in February for the murder, which police said was part of gruesome serial killings in an industrial town next to the capital in Uttar Pradesh state. The high court in the city of Allahabad overturned Pandher's sentence for lack of evidence, but Koli's death penalty still stands, according to local media. “I was appointed by the High Court as his lawyer. Koli didn't appoint me as his lawyer,” Gopal Chaturvedi, Koli's lawyer, told reporters. “Now it is up to him whether he files an appeal in the Supreme Court against this decision.” Pandher and his servant were arrested in December 2006 after the body parts of 19 children and young women were found packed in 57 plastic bags and buried in the backyard and drains around the businessman's home. Koli admitted in court that he even ate body parts of 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar, according to India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Pandher had told the CBI he was oblivious to the killings in his home, called the “House of Horrors” by the media, saying he had mobile phone records showing he was usually out on business when they happened.
