Nithari case: SC to hear pleas against acquittal of Surendra Koli on Mar 25

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would on March 25 hear a batch of pleas against the acquittal of Surendra Koli in the 2006 Nithari serial killings case.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih was informed by solicitor general Tushar Mehta that the case was over the "very serious and gruesome" killings in Nithari, UP.

Koli's counsel said the evidence against his client was a confessional statement, recorded several days after his police custody in the case.

The bench directed its registry to summon the trial court records in other connected matters expeditiously and supply its copies to the lawyers appearing in the matter.

The hearing was posted on March 25.

In 2024, the apex court agreed to examine separate pleas filed by the CBI and the UP government challenging the Allahabad High Court's decision acquitting Koli on October 16, 2023.

The bench had sought a response from Koli on the petitions and tagged it with similar pending pleas.

The top court in May, 2024, agreed to hear a plea filed by the father of one of the victims challenging the high court's acquittal verdict.

Koli was awarded death penalty on September 28, 2010 by the trial court.

Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Koli were accused of rape and murder of persons, mostly children, in their neighbourhood in Nithari, UP.

The high court acquitted them in the death penalty case and said the prosecution had failed to prove their guilt "beyond reasonable doubt" while calling it a "botched up" investigation.

Reversing the death sentence given to Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases, the high court said the probe was "nothing short of a betrayal of public trust by responsible agencies".

The high court allowed multiple appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who challenged the death sentence awarded by a CBI court in Ghaziabad.

A total of 19 cases were lodged against the duo in 2007, and the CBI filed closure reports in three cases due to lack of evidence.

Koli was acquitted in three of the 16 remaining cases, and his death sentence in one case was commuted to life.

The killings came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children from a drain behind Pandher's house at Nithari in Noida, bordering the national capital, on December 29, 2006.

Further digging and searches of drains in the area around the house led to more skeletal remains. Most of these remains were those of children and young women who went missing in the area.

The CBI took over the case within 10 days of the crime and its search resulted in the recovery of more human remains.