New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (January 6) said it would hear on March 25 a batch of pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court order acquitting domestic help Surendra Koli in the 2006 Nithari serial killings case in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
A bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih, while posting the matter for March 25, directed the top court registry to summon the trial court records in other connected matters expeditiously and supply the copies to the lawyers appearing in the matter.
Apex Court last year agreed to examine separate pleas filed by CBI, Uttar Pradesh govt against High Court verdict
The top court last year agreed to examine separate pleas filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Uttar Pradesh government challenging the verdict of the High Court acquitting Koli on October 16, 2023. The court, while tagging the petitions with similar pending pleas, had sought Koli’s response.
The top court last year also agreed to hear a plea filed by the father of one of the victims challenging the order of the High Court acquitting Koli in one of the cases.
Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Koli were accused of rape and murder of several persons, mostly children, in their neighbourhood in Nithari.
High Court in October 2023 acquitted Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases
The High Court in October last year acquitted Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases in which they were awarded death sentence by the trial court, holding that the prosecution failed to prove their guilt “beyond reasonable doubt”.
Investigation was botched up, High Court had said while allowing multiple appeals filed by Koli, Pandher
The High Court, while allowing multiple appeals filed by Koli and Pandher against the death penalty awarded to them by a Ghaziabad CBI court, had also said that the investigation in the case was botched up and “nothing short of a betrayal of public trust by responsible agencies”.
There were allegations of sexual assault, brutal murder and possible cannibalism in Nithari serial killings
There were 19 cases registered against Pandher and Koli in 2007 and the duo were charged with rape and murder in the sensational case that came to light following recovery of the skeletal remains of several children from a drain behind the house of Pandher in Nithari in Noida. There were allegations of sexual assault, brutal murder and possible cannibalism in the case.
The case was investigated by the Noida Police initially, however, it was later transferred to the CBI.
