The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted Surendra Koli in a murder and rape case related to the Nithari killings of 2005-2006 in Noida.
The Court allowed a curative petition filed by Surendra Koli against his conviction.
Koli's conviction had been upheld by the top court in February 2011 for the killing of a 15-year-old girl. However, he moved the top court again with a curative petition this year after he was acquitted by Allahabad High Court in the remaining 12 cases against him.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath today acquitted Koli and set aside his conviction in the last case.
"The petitioner is acquitted of the charges. The petitioner shall be released forthwith," Justice Nath said while pronouncing the verdict.
During a hearing of Koli's curative plea, the Court on October 7 had remarked that conviction was merely based on a statement and recovery of kitchen knife.
It had also said that anomalous situation has arisen due to the acquittal in rest of the cases.
Nithari murders took place between 2005 and 2006. The case came to public attention in December 2006 when skeletons were discovered in a drain near a house in Nithari village, Noida. Subsequently, it was revealed that Moninder Singh Pandher was the owner of the house and Koli was his domestic help.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the investigation in the matter and eventually filed multiple cases. Surendra Koli was made an accused in all of the cases on various charges including murder, abduction, rape and destruction of evidence, while Moninder Singh Pandher was charged in one case related to immoral trafficking.
Koli was eventually convicted of committing multiple rapes and murders of various girls and was sentenced to death in more than ten cases.
In 2009, the Allahabad High Court in the present case held Koli guilty but acquitted Pandher due to lack of evidence for the murder and rape of a victim, a 15-year-old girl. An appeal by Koli against this judgment was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2011. A review plea by Koli was also later dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2014.
However, the High Court on January 28, 2015 commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on account of an inordinate delay in deciding on Koli's mercy petition.
In other cases, the Allahabad High Court in October 2023 acquitted Pandher and Koli, overturning the death sentences imposed by the trial court in 2017. The High Court acquitted Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in 2, in which both had previously been found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
This prompted the CBI and the victims' families to file a total of 14 appeals before the Supreme Court challenging the High Court's decision. The top court dismissed the appeals on July 31.
Since Koli has now been acquitted in the killing of the 15-year-old, he is set to be a free man.