Businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli were sentenced to death on Friday for rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl Rimpa Halder, one of 19 victims in the sensational Nithari serial killings.

Pronouncing the sentence in a packed court room, Special CBI judge Rama Jain held the crimes committed by 55-year-old Pandher and 38-year-old Koli to be 'rarest of rare' deserving capital punishment.