Nithari killings: SC upholds Koli and Pandher’s acquittals

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the acquittal of Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher in 12 cases of murder and rape linked to the Nithari killings, junking the appeals filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the victims’ families.

- Abraham Thomas

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai passed the order endorsing the findings of the Allahabad High Court in October 2023 that acquitted them. Koli will remain in jail as he is serving life imprisonment in one of the Nithari killings cases, where his conviction was upheld by the top court in 2011. To be sure, Pandher and Koli were charged in 16 cases for the killing of young girls between 2005 and 2007. While the trial court convicted Koli in 13 cases, Pandher was convicted in two of the 13. Pandher has been acquitted in all cases against him, while in one of the 13 cases, Koli’s conviction was upheld by the top court in 2011.

On Wednesday, the CBI, represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Rajkumar Bhaskar Thakare, contended that the high court refused to believe the discovery of skulls and bones outside the house where Koli was working as a servant. As the ASG opened the submissions describing the case as “one of the darkest crimes in history”, the bench, also comprising justices SC Sharma and K Vinod Chandran, said, “Don't try to prejudice the court by using such expressions. Just tell us what is the perversity in the high court judgment.”