SC upholds acquittal of Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher in Nithari killings case

New Delhi, Jul 31 (UNI) The Supreme Court today upheld the acquittal of Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher in the infamous 2005–2006 Noida serial murder cases, widely known as the Nithari killings.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, and Justice K. Vinod Chandran dismissed 14 appeals filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and families of the victims, which had challenged the Allahabad High Court’s judgment setting aside their convictions and death sentences.

The Court lauded the High Court’s judgment, noting its resilience in the face of intense media pressure.

Chief Justice Gavai remarked, “It is rather complimentary of the judges of the High Court for writing such a judgment… The trial court, sorry to say, must have been influenced by a media trial.” He added that the appellants were unable to point out any legal perversity in the High Court’s reasoning.

While Moninder Singh Pandher has now been acquitted in all cases against him, Surendra Koli remains in jail as his conviction and death sentence in another related case were upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.

His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad High Court in 2015 due to the prolonged delay in the disposal of his mercy petition.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the Bench observed that the area behind Pandher’s house where the skeletal remains of victims were discovered was not exclusively accessible to the accused.

Justice Gavai noted, “The law requires that recovery must be from a place exclusively known and accessible to the accused.”

The Nithari killings first came to light in December 2006 when the remains of several children and women were found in a drain behind Pandher’s residence in Noida’s Nithari locality.

Surendra Koli, employed as a domestic worker in the Pandher household, was accused of murdering multiple girls, dismembering their bodies, and disposing of the remains in the backyard.

The CBI registered 16 cases and charge-sheeted Koli in all of them for murder, rape, abduction, and destruction of evidence.

Pandher was initially charge-sheeted in one case related to immoral trafficking, and subsequently named in five more cases based on applications filed by victims’ families.

In total, remains of 19 victims were reportedly recovered.

The Allahabad High Court, in its October 2023 judgment, acquitted both accused citing lack of credible evidence.

The High Court also pointed out that the possibility of organ trade was not investigated by the CBI, despite a prior arrest in a kidney scam involving a resident of the adjoining house.

The Supreme Court had taken up the batch of appeals in July 2024.

Earlier, on April 3 this year, Justice Gavai expressed displeasure over the conduct of State authorities during the hearings, remarking that no one seemed prepared to argue, which presented a “very sorry picture of the Union/CBI.”

Koli’s counsel had contended that the prosecution’s case was “hollow,” relying primarily on a confession recorded after 60 days in custody and a recovery made under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act.

He also argued that the case had been misrepresented as one involving cannibalism and sexual deviance, when in fact it pointed to organ trafficking.

The defense highlighted the absence of blood-stained clothes, murder weapons, or victim torsos, and emphasised that the recovered body parts had been cut with surgical precision.

 

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