New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a fresh plea filed by the CBI challenging the Allahabad High Court’s verdict that acquitted Surendra Koli in the sensational 2006 Nithari serial killings case.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan tagged the CBI’s plea with some other petitions pending in the top court against the high court order of October 16, 2024.

On July 19, the top court had agreed to hear separate pleas filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Uttar Pradesh government against the high court verdict. It had also issued a notice and sought a response from Koli on the petitions.

The top court had in May agreed to hear a plea filed by the father of one of the victims challenging the high court’s verdict acquitting Koli in one of the cases.

In this case, Moninder Singh Pandher was acquitted by the sessions court while Koli was awarded the death penalty on September 28, 2010.

The high court had acquitted domestic help Pandher and his employer Koli in the case in which they were facing a death sentence, holding that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt “beyond reasonable doubt” and that the investigation was “botched up”.

Reversing the death sentence given to Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases, the high court had noted that the prosecution had failed to prove the guilt of both the accused “beyond reasonable doubt, on the settled parameters of a case based on circumstantial evidence” and the probe was “nothing short of a betrayal of public trust by responsible agencies”.

Pandher and Koli were charged with rape and murder and sentenced to death in the killings that horrified the nation with their details of sexual assault, brutal murder and hints of possible cannibalism.

The high court had allowed multiple appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who had challenged the death sentence awarded by a Central Bureau of Investigation court in Ghaziabad.

In all, 19 cases had been lodged against Pandher and Koli in 2007. The CBI had filed closure reports in three cases due to lack of evidence. In the remaining 16 cases, Koli was earlier acquitted in three and his death sentence in one was commuted to life.

The sensational 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 the recovery more skeletal remains. Most of these remains were those of poor children and young women who had gone missing from the area.

Within 10 days, the CBI had taken over the case and its search resulted in the recovery of more remains.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Combo file photo of Surendra Koli (left) and Mohinder Pandher
| Photo Credit: PTI

A residents’ body in Noida on October 23 said it will move the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court’s recent order acquitting domestic help Surendra Koli and his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the 2006 Nithari serial killings.

The District Development Residents Welfare Association (DDRWA) is consulting legal experts and has met the victim families to take the case further.

“We first thought of extending financial assistance to the victim families but after discussions it was decided that we will take up the case and bear the legal expenses of the case in the Supreme Court,” DDRWA president N P Singh told PTI.  “We have taken the consent of the victim families, and are consulting lawyers who are studying the high court’s order. They will guide us on the way ahead in this case. We are hoping to move the Supreme Court within a week,” Singh added.  Ashok, who had lost his five-year-old son in the Nithari serial killings, said he has spoken to the residents’ body about the case.

 “I have given them my go head for taking up this case in the apex court. Let’s see what happens next,” Ashok, who runs a footwear shop, told PTI.  Businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, 65, who was arrested in the sensational case, walked out of Luksar jail in Greater Noida on Friday.

The Allahabad High Court on October 16 acquitted him and his domestic help Koli in the case after noting that the prosecution had failed to prove guilt “beyond reasonable doubt” and that the investigation was botched up.

The two were charged with rape and murder and sentenced to death by a lower court in the killings in Nithari, Noida, that horrified the nation with the details of sexual assault, brutal murder and hints of possible cannibalism.

New Delhi/Noida:

Nithari’s serial killings’ accused Moninder Singh Pandhar was released from a Greater Noida jail today days after the Allahabad high Court cleared him of all charges.

The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted Moninder Singh Pandhar in two cases and his domestic help Surendra Koli – who is the main accused in the sensational case – in 12 cases.

Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher, who were convicted of rape and murder, were acquitted by the high court over lack of evidence.

The high court said the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Koli, however, continues to be a life-term prisoner for his conviction in one case. 

The serial killings took place at Moninder Pandher’s home in Nithari area of Uttar Pradesh’s Noida between 2005 and 2006, according to the CBI.

Surinder Koli worked as a help at Pandher’s home, which was dubbed by many as the “house of horrors” after the revelations. Koli would lure the children into the house, where he and Pandher raped and murdered them, it was alleged.

The police said they would chop up the bodies of the children and throw the parts in drains to destroy the evidence.

The discovery of body parts of a missing child in a drain near Pandher’s home led to a massive investigation that revealed the identities of more victims. Disturbing allegations of murder, mutilation, and even cannibalism held the nation’s attention for weeks and months.

The police said there were a series of gruesome murders of several more children, after which the case was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Koli had earlier also confessed to having sex with the dead victims and also eating their body parts.

The duo was also convicted for rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman.

New Delhi/Allahabad:

The Allahabad High Court today acquitted the prime accused in infamous Nithari killings, Surinder Koli, in 12 cases in which he was handed death penalty by a trial court.

Moninder Singh Pandher, the co-accused in the case, has also been acquitted in two cases.

Officials said Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher, who were awarded death sentences on the charges of rape and murder, have been acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The death sentences of both Koli and Pandher stand cancelled after the big high court verdict.

The serial killings took place at Moninder Singh Pandher’s home in Nithari area of Uttar Pradesh’s Noida between 2005 and 2006.

Surinder Koli worked as a help at Pandher’s home. Koli would lure the children into the house, where he and Pandher raped and murdered them, it’s alleged.

They would chop the bodies of the children and throw the parts in drains to destroy the evidence.

The case came to light after the neighbours found body parts of a missing child in a drain near Pandher’s home.

Investigation then led the police to a series of gruesome murders of several more children, after which the case was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI had filed 19 cases against Pandher and Koli in 2007.

Surinder Koli was found guilty of rape and murder of several children at his employer’s house. Koli had earlier confessed to having sex with the dead victims and also eating their body parts.

The duo was also convicted for rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman.