CHANDIGARH: Certain senior Congress leaders of Punjab have family relations with Maninder Singh Pandher, main accused in Noida serial killings of children and they have also reportedly visisted the Chandigarh house of Pandher after his arrest by police.At least 17 skeltons have been found from the house of Pandher near Jhaleri in Noida.

Pandher belonged a rich farmer family of Punjab and he owns about 50 acres of agriculture land in his native village Loh Tabbadi in Ludhiana district. Pandher studied at the elite Bishop Cotton School here from 1963-73 after which he graduated from St. Stephens College in Delhi. He is married in a well to do farming family in Ambala district in Haryana.

Atleast two senior Congress leaders Rana Gurjit Singh Member Parliament from Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat and Sukhpal Singh Khaira son of a former minister and aspirant for Congress ticket from Kapurthala have visited Pandher's Sector 27 house in Chandigarh. They both are related to Pandher's wife Devinder Kaur. Khaira is distant brother-in-law of Pandher.

Khaira when visited Pandher's hosue was quoted saying to media, "He (Pandher)seemed to be a very bright person but he had lost touch with him ever since he separated from his wife Davinder about two years ago. I don’t know what happened in the past few years, for I have had no contact with him.”

Rana Gurjit Singh also claimed that he had come to Pandher's residence only due to relations with his wife's family.

According to information, Davinder Kaur severed ties with Pandher several years ago because of his relationship with another woman, but they patched up - only to separate again, two years back.

"That's the reason, neither she nor her son Karandep Singh, who studies in Canada, have bothered to go to Delhi to meet him or follow his case with Noida police," a family source said.

Iqbal Singh brother ofr Pandher who lives in Panchkula a sattelite township of Chandigarh, said his relations with his brother soured further when their father Sampooran Singh passed away this year. He said that he had fifty percent share in sector 27 house but it was grabbed and matter is now in the court.