NEW DELHI, Jan 6: The wife and son of a businessman suspected of the rape and mass murder of children in a case that has sparked outrage in India said on Saturday he was not a monster and claimed he had been framed.

Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant, Surender Koli, were slated to be questioned by police using truth serum or sodium penthanol for a second day on Saturday to try to discover the motive and exact number of killings.

Pandher's son Karan told reporters that his father should not be deemed guilty before being given a fair trial.

“Do not accuse him right now. He is just a suspect. He is not a monster.

Come on, have a heart. He has a family. He has a son,” Karan Pandher said.

“If my father is found guilty -- it's hard for me to say this -- he should get the highest punishment. He should get capital punishment,” he told a private TV network in an interview.

A woman identified as Moninder Pandher's wife also defended the man and denied media reports that the couple lived separately because of differences.

“He is not guilty, not at all. This thing about children, it's rubbish. He is being framed. There's no truth in it,” Devinder Kaur said.

An autopsy report said the 17 bodies, mainly of young girls from poor families, found near Pandher's house last week had been sliced with “butcher-like” precision.

The victims lived in a village in affluent Noida township near New Delhi and had been missing for up to three years.

Residents say at least 38 people, mostly children, have disappeared from the area and that police had ignored their complaints the children were missing.—AFP