Surinder Koli's mother meets him in jail after eight years

Death-row convict Surinder Koli's mother today met her son for the first time in eight years since he was lodged in jail for Nithari serial killings.
68-year-old Kanti Koli who travelled from Mangrukhlal village in Almora town in Uttarakhand, met Surinder at Meerut jail today for 45 minutes.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Kanti said that Surinder told her he was made a scapegoat in order to save influential people, apparently referring to his employer Moninder Singh Pandher.
Kanti further said, "If Pandher was not given capital punishment, my son should also be spared from it. If my son is hanged, Pandher should also be hanged."

42-year-old Surinder Koli was awarded death sentence by a lower court, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2011 for the murder of Rimpa Halder in 2005. He was to be hanged on September 12 in Meerut jail, where he has been kept in a high-security barrack.
The Supreme Court on September 8 stayed the execution of his death sentence for a period of one week.

Alleging that Surinder has been made a scapegoat in the case, Kanti said, the main culprit is Pandher as killings took place inside his house.

"I do not believe that my son can commit this crime," the grief-stricken mother said.
She was meeting Koli for the first time after eight years and was accompanied by panchayat member of Mangrukhlal, Narayan Singh Rawat and other members of her village.