Supreme Court Agrees To Hear CBI’s Plea Challenging Nithari Killer Surendra Koli’s Acquittal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a new plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the Allahabad High Court’s decision to acquit Surendra Koli in the 2006 Nithari serial killings case.

A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan has tagged the CBI’s petition with other pending cases related to the high court’s October 16, 2024 verdict.

Previously, on July 19, the apex court had agreed to consider separate petitions from the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government against the high court’s ruling, issuing a notice to Koli and seeking his response.

Earlier in May, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a plea from the father of one of the victims, who contested the high court’s decision to acquit Koli.

In the original case, Moninder Singh Pandher had been acquitted by the sessions court, while Koli was sentenced to death on September 28, 2010. However, the Allahabad High Court overturned these sentences, stating that the prosecution failed to establish guilt “beyond reasonable doubt” and that the investigation was “botched up.”

The high court’s ruling reversed the death sentences of Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases, citing the prosecution’s inability to prove the accused’s guilt based on circumstantial evidence. It also criticised the investigation as a “betrayal of public trust.”

Pandher and Koli were initially charged with rape and murder in the gruesome killings, which involved sexual assault, brutal murders, and alleged cannibalism, shocking the nation.

The high court had accepted appeals from both Koli and Pandher, overturning the death sentences imposed by a CBI court in Ghaziabad. The case, which shook the nation, had seen 19 cases filed against the duo in 2007. The CBI closed three of these cases due to insufficient evidence. Koli was previously acquitted in three cases, and his death sentence in one was commuted to life imprisonment.

The horrific killings were uncovered on December 29, 2006, when skeletal remains of eight children were found in a drain behind Pandher’s Nithari residence in Noida. Further searches led to the discovery of more remains, mostly belonging to poor children and young women who had gone missing from the area. Within 10 days, the CBI took over the investigation, leading to additional discoveries.