Skeletal remains of 8 children found, 2 held

Skeletons found in gutter n Man admits murdering 8 children n 38 missing over 3 years

NEW DELHI: Police in NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, have uncovered a case of serial killings reminiscent of the horrors perpetrated by Andrei Chikatilo, a Russian convicted of and executed for the murder of 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990. They recovered bags containing corpses and skeletons of children from a house in Nithari, a village in Sector 31.

The corpses of at least six children were found in a drain in the house. A sack inside the house was stuffed with the skeletons of at least four more children and the body of a boy aged between eight and ten. Police also found the clothes and footwear of children during the search.

Thirty-eight children have gone missing in the past couple of years from the vicinity of Nithari village and the remains of some were found in the house. Police later said it would take a while to identify the exact number of children whose remains were found in the house.

A middle-aged resident of the area, whose daughter has been missing for three years, said, “This has shaken us up. It has been so long since my daughter vanished. I hope she’s not part of this.”

Satish alias Surinder, the domestic help of the house, is said to have confessed to sexually abusing and killing eight children. Police described him as mentally ill. He has been taken into custody.

Police are trying to determine if Satish holds the key to solving the mystery of the other missing children. They have also detained Mohinder Singh, a Chandigarh-based businessman and owner of the house, and his driver.

Dr Narendra Gupta, member of a local residents’ welfare association, said the revelations were shocking. “More shocking is that the whole town has been sleeping over this for the past two years,” Gupta said.

Senior Superintendent of Police RKS Rathore said, “Satish used to lure children with sweets and candies, and would abuse them physically before killing them.”

Police chanced upon the grisly evidence while investigating the case of a missing girl named Payal. The girl, described by police as a ‘grown-up’, was allegedly having an affair with Singh.

Payal’s mobile number was tracked to Satish, who confessed to murdering her.

“This is a gruesome crime and we will take action against the police station for their slackness in investigating the [earlier] cases,” Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police AC Sharma said. “We are not ruling out the involvement of Mohinder Singh and have enough evidence to book him for Payal’s murder.”