Pandher’s wife and son at the CBI court on Friday. (Prem Singh)

Ghaziabad, Feb. 13: The family of Moninder Singh Pandher, sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar, insisted he was innocent and said they would appeal in Allahabad High Court.

“I lived in that house (D-5, Sector 31) from 2000 to 2005, but I could never suspect what (Surender) Koli had been doing. The house was always spick and span,” his wife Devinder Kaur said, after the judge asked how it was possible that Pandher did not know of crimes committed in his own house.

The killings occurred between February 2005 and November 2006.

The CBI chargesheet had said Pandher did not know that Koli, his servant, had raped and killed 19 children and young women.

“My father’s normal schedule was that he came back from his business meetings, went straight into his room and watched television. He never bothered about what was happening in his house,” Pandher’s son Karandeep said.

Karandeep, 25, a student of political science at the University of Windsor in Canada, quit studies to look after his father’s business.

The Noida businessman’s knowledge of the frequent visits of Payal, one of the victims, to his house and his intimacy with her was one of the factors that nailed him.

“Papa, I will appeal in a higher court, you need not worry,” Karandeep whispered to Pandher as he was led out of the courtroom.

Later, the son cried that his father would be better off dead than face this humiliation. “My father will rot in jail for ever. He should be hanged, for a nice and gentle man like him doesn’t deserve this trauma,” he said, alleging injustice had been done.

“Justice has finally prevailed,” said Khalid Khan, the lawyer for the Haldars, who was confident the high court would uphold the verdict.

Rimpa’s parents, Anil and Dolly Haldar, said: “It shows poor people like us can also get justice. This is a victory for all the children in the country.”