Nithari Killings: SC To Hear Pleas Against Koli's Acquittal On March 25

The Supreme Court will hear on March 25 a batch of pleas challenging the acquittal of Surendra Koli in the 2006 Nithari serial killings case.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear on March 25, a batch of pleas against the acquittal of Surendra Koli, the accused in the sensational 2006 Nithari serial killings case. The matter came up before a bench comprising justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih. The apex court 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.

At the beginning of the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, contended that the case was regarding the "very serious and gruesome" killings in Nithari, Uttar Pradesh. A counsel, representing Koli, submitted that the only evidence in the case is a confessional statement, which was recorded after 60 days of custody and in which Koli said that he was tortured.

In December 2006, the sensational killings came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children from a drain behind a house at Nithari in Noida.

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.

In July last year, the top court had agreed to examine separate pleas filed by the CBI, Uttar Pradesh government and Pappu Lal, father of one of the victim girls, challenging the Allahabad High Court's order of acquitting businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli.

In October 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli in some of the cases concerning the Nithari killings and overturned the death penalty imposed on them by the trial court.