Ghaziabad, Apr 6 (IANS): A CBI court awarded death sentence -- 11th -- to Surender Koli in the Nithari serial killing case, here on Saturday.

CBI Prosecutor J.P. Sharma said it was the 11th case in which Koli has been ordered to be hanged till death. But the court acquitted the co-accused Maninder Singh Pandher, due to lack of evidence.

According to Sharma, a 10-year-old girl went missing after she had gone to deliver 'ironed' cloths at D-5, residence Pandher, where his domestic help Koli was living, on June 21, 2005.

When the girl did not return home for two days, her parents lodged a complaint at Sector 20 police station on June 23, 2005.

The case was handed over to the CBI on June 11, 2007 and the agency submitted chargesheet on April 9, 2008.

The court of special judge Amit Vir Singh held Koli guilty on Friday. On Saturday, the court awarded a death sentence to Koli and imposed a penalty of Rs 1.10 lakh on him. The court, however, acquitted Pandher for lack of credible evidence.

On December 26, 2006 the Noida Police had recovered scull from the back of the house. In a DNA test, it was established that the scull was of the missing girl. The DNA report became most crucial evidence against Koli.

Thirty-eight witnesses testified in the case.