Allahabad HC acquits accused in Nithari case, overturns death penalty

Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher are the accused and co-accused in the infamous Nithari murders of UP's Noida

The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted the prime accused in the Nithari killings case. Surendra Koli has been acquitted in 12 cases, for which the trial court awarded him the death penalty. He was sentenced to death in over 10 cases.

Moninder Singh Pandher has been acquitted in two cases in which he was awarded the death penalty.

Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher are the accused and co-accused in the infamous Nithari murders in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Koli was found guilty of raping and murdering several children between 2005 and 2006.

The gruesome case came to light in December 2006, when skeletons were found in a drain near a house in Nithari.

It was alleged that Koli would lure the children to the house, offering them sweets and chocolates, murder them, and have sex with the corpses. He was also accused of cannibalism.

His employer, businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, was co-accused of brutal murder and rape in the Nithari case.

Read | 'Rapes, murders & cannibalism': A timeline of Nithari serial killings