The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted Surendra Koli in a murder and rape case related to the infamous Nithari killings that took place in 2005-2006 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath allowed Koli’s curative petition and set aside its February 2011 verdict, which upheld his conviction for the killing of a 15-year-old girl.
The Apex Court today held in an open court that Koli’s conviction and death sentence in 2011 suffered from grave errors.
The domestic help moved the top court of the country again with a curative petition in 2025 after he was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court in the remaining 12 cases against him.
On October 7, the Bench had remarked during the hearing that the conviction was merely based on a statement and the recovery of a kitchen knife. An anomalous situation has arisen due to the acquittal in the rest of the cases, it added.
The Nithari killings took place between 2005 and 2006. The case came to public attention in December 2006 when skeletons were discovered in a drain near a house in Nithari village, Noida. Subsequently, it was revealed that Moninder Singh Pandher was the owner of the house, and Koli was his domestic help.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the investigation and filed multiple cases. Koli was made an accused in all of the cases on various charges, including murder, abduction, rape and destruction of evidence. Pandher was charged in one case related to immoral trafficking.
Koli was eventually convicted of committing multiple rapes and murders of various girls. He was sentenced to death in more than 10 cases.
The Allahabad High Court held Koli guilty in the present case in 2009. However, it acquitted Pandher due to the lack of evidence for the murder and rape of a 15-year-old girl. Koli challenged this verdict before the top court of the country, which dismissed it in 2011. Another review plea by Koli was dismissed by the Apex Court in 2014.
On January 28, 2015, however, the Allahabad High Court commuted Koli’s death sentence to life imprisonment on account of an inordinate delay in deciding on Koli’s mercy petition.
In October 2023, the High Court acquitted Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in 2, overturning the death sentences awarded to them by a trial court in 2017.
The CBI and the victims’ families challenged the High Court’s verdict before the Apex Court by way of 14 appeals, all of which were dismissed on July 31.
The Apex Court today directed that the petitioner be released forthwith, unless required in connection with any other pending case. Following the verdict, Koli is set to be a free man, after remaining in jail for almost two decades.