New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted Surinder Koli, the prime accused in the infamous Nithari killings in 12 cases in which he was handed death penalty by a trial court.
Moninder Singh’s Pandher, the co-accused in the case, has also been acquitted in two cases.
The death sentences of both Koli and Pandher stand cancelled after the big high court verdict.
The serial killings took place at Moninder Singh Pandher’s home in Nithari area of Uttar Pradesh’s Noida between 2005 and 2006.
Surinder Koli worked as a help at Pandher’s home.
Surinder Koli was found guilty of rape and murder of several children at his employer’s house.
The duo was also convicted of rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman. The case came to light after the neighbours found the body parts of a missing child in a drain near Pandher’s home. The investigation then led the police to a series of gruesome murders of several more children. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed 19 cases against Pandher and Koli in 2007. Surinder Koli was awarded the death penalty by the trial court in 12 cases.
“Allahabad High Court has acquitted Moninder Singh Pandher in the two appeals against him. There were a total of 6 cases against him. Koli has been acquitted in all appeals against him here,” Pandher’s lawyer Manisha Bhandari told ANI.
Koli would lure the children into the house, where he and Pandher raped and murdered them, it’s alleged.
