As 15 skulls and body parts were recovered from Nithari area where children were believed to have been sexually abused before being murdered, police claimed on Saturday that the factory owner in whose house the recovery was made has confessed to being aware of the crime.

Interrogation of the factory owner Mohinder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Satish alias Surender has revealed that the servant had committed the crime with his consent and knowledge, SSP R K S Rathore told PTI.

He said so far 15 skulls and other skeleton parts have been found in the excavation near Singh's house in Sector 31 of this industrial town in Western Uttar Pradesh.

He said some of the clothes and other belongings found after the digging on Friday have been identified by the parents of some of the missing children.

Asked how the identity of the human remains of the children would be ascertained, he said these would be sent for DNA testing along with samples from the parents whose children have gone missing.

Police, meanwhile, discovered more skeletal remains of children believed to have been sexually abused and murdered.

Mohinder Singh and Surender alias Satish were arrested on Friday for the killings.

Surender had confessed to having killed six children and a grown up girl.

Meanwhile, police had to tackle an angry crowd that even indulged in some stone-pelting at the house on Saturday morning, but the situation was soon brought under control.

A large number of onlookers, including parents of missing children, crowded around the house as police carried on with the digging. Several parents came to the site carrying photographs of their missing children and showed them to the police officials even as they hoped that their worst fears would not come true.

Among them was a family that came from Indirapuram area in nearby Ghaziabad and another from Kalyanpuri in East Delhi, whose children had also gone missing.

As many as 38 children have gone missing from Nithari village in Sector 31 over the past one year.