New Delhi, Nov 11 (UNI) The Supreme Court today acquitted Surendra Koli in the final case linked to the Nithari killings, bringing to an end the only remaining conviction against him in the 2005–2006 serial murder episodes in Noida.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath allowed Koli’s curative petition and ordered his immediate release.
“The petitioner is acquitted of the charges. He shall be released forthwith,” Justice Nath announced while delivering the judgment.
Koli had been convicted and sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, a conviction that the Supreme Court had upheld in 2011.
However, Koli approached the Court again after the Allahabad High Court, in October 2023, acquitted him in 12 other related Nithari cases, overturning earlier death sentences imposed by the trial court.
The High Court had also acquitted co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher in two matters.
While hearing the curative plea on October 7, the Supreme Court had noted that Koli’s conviction in the present case appeared to rest primarily on a statement and the alleged recovery of a kitchen knife, especially when the evidence in the other connected cases had not been sustained.
The Nithari case came to national attention in December 2006 when human remains were discovered in a drain near Pandher’s residence in Nithari village, Noida.
Investigations revealed a series of disappearances and killings of minors and young women.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe and charged Koli in multiple cases involving murder, rape, abduction and destruction of evidence, while Pandher faced charges in a separate case of immoral trafficking.
Koli was convicted in more than ten cases and was awarded the death penalty in several of them.
His review petition was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2014, though the Allahabad High Court later commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment due to delays in the disposal of his mercy petition.
However, the acquittals granted by the High Court in October last year prompted the victims’ families and the CBI to approach the Supreme Court, which dismissed their appeals on July 31.
With today’s order setting aside his last remaining conviction, Surendra Koli is now set to walk free.
