Today, On 6th January, The Supreme Court will hear pleas on March 25 against the acquittal of Surendra Koli in the Nithari killings case. Koli, who was earlier convicted and sentenced for several murders and horrific crimes, was cleared in some cases after appeals. The case has gathered much attention due to the shocking nature of the crimes. The hearing will decide the future of the acquittal decisions.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court announced it will hear a series of petitions challenging the acquittal of Surendra Koli in the 2006 Nithari serial killings case on March 25.
Justices B.R. Gavai and Augustine George Masih informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the case involves “very serious and gruesome” killings in Nithari, Uttar Pradesh.
Koli’s lawyer argued that the primary evidence against him consisted of a confessional statement made several days after his police custody. The bench instructed its registry to immediately summon trial court records related to other connected matters and provide copies to the lawyers involved.
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The hearing has been scheduled for March 25.
In 2024, the Supreme Court agreed to review separate petitions filed by the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government contesting the Allahabad High Court’s decision to acquit Koli on October 16, 2023. The bench requested Koli’s response to these petitions and consolidated them with similar pending cases.
Additionally, in May 2024, the court agreed to consider a plea from the father of one of the victims challenging the high court’s acquittal.
Koli had been sentenced to death on September 28, 2010, by the trial court. He and Moninder Singh Pandher were accused of raping and murdering several individuals, predominantly children, in their Nithari neighbourhood. The high court set-aside their death sentences, stating that the prosecution had not proven their guilt “beyond reasonable doubt” and characterized the investigation as a “botched up” process.
The high court’s ruling reversed Koli’s death sentences in 12 cases and Pandher’s in two, criticizing the investigation as a “betrayal of public trust by responsible agencies.”
The high court accepted multiple appeals from Koli and Pandher, who contested the death sentences imposed by a CBI court in Ghaziabad. In total, 19 cases were filed against the pair in 2007, with the CBI ultimately closing three cases due to insufficient evidence.
Koli was acquitted in three of the remaining 16 cases, and his death sentence in one case was commuted to life imprisonment. The killings came to light when skeletal remains of eight children were discovered in a drain behind Pandher’s house in Nithari on December 29, 2006.
Subsequent searches revealed additional remains, primarily belonging to children and young women who had gone missing in the area. The CBI took over the investigation within ten days of the crime, leading to further discoveries of human remains.
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Nithari serial killings