Broken walls, creepers everywhere: What remains of Nithari’s bungalow no D5 | Noida News

Noida: Standing next to two sprawling homes with manicured lawns, an unsettling scent of neglect lingers over Nitahri’s bungalow number D5 today. The house that once stood at the centre of one of India’s most horrifying crime stories is now barely visible — swallowed by creepers that climb broken boundary walls, a rusted gate sagging on its hinges, shuttered windows, and plaster peeling from damp, crumbling surfaces. Inside, the rooms lie stripped and ruined. Until last week, neighbours say, the vegetation around the property was so dense that the bungalow had almost disappeared from view. A group of labourers arrived without notice to cut through the overgrowth. Rumours swirled: some believe the cleaning was ordered by residents’ groups to keep snakes away, others assume the family of Moninder Singh Pandher, the former owner, finally intervened. Nearly 20 years ago, this plot in Sector 31 pitchforked from an ordinary middle-class residence into the nucleus of the Nithari serial killings. In 2006, investigators unearthed human remains from a drain at the back of the property.Pandher, who once lived here, was convicted in three separate cases by a trial court and sentenced to death twice. But in Oct 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted him, ruling that the evidence did not establish his involvement. The Supreme Court later upheld that acquittal. Pandher has since relocated to Chandigarh and declined to respond to calls or messages seeking comment.In a recent video interview with a reporter in Chandigarh, Pandher offered a different version of his past. He said he was working in the fertiliser business in Badaun when he came to know of the bungalow .”A retired army officer,” he recalled, had suggested the property, adding that Surinder Koli, Pandher’s domestic staffer, had worked at the officer’s home earlier.Pandher also claimed he had known Payal, one of the first young women to disappear in 2006. “We had an arrangement,” he said. “The girl went missing suddenly. Around the same time, my father passed away, and I came to Chandigarh. Her family alleged that she had gone to my bungalow in my absence and had not returned since. The police then launched an investigation and found skeletons in the drain,” he said.He claimed to be away from Noida when the murders took place. He also denied the allegations of bribing the police to weaken the case.