Noida: Surendra Koli, the prime accused in the 2006 Nithari serial killings, was released from Luksar district jail in Greater Noida on Wednesday evening, following his acquittal by the Supreme Court in the last pending case against him.
Jail superintendent Brijesh Kumar confirmed Koli’s release at around 7.20 p.m., stating it was carried out in compliance with the apex court’s order. Dressed in a blue shirt, black trousers and a navy-blue jacket, Koli exited the prison accompanied by his lawyers. He did not speak to the media, and his family members were not present at the gate. His whereabouts following release remain unknown.
The Nithari case came to light in 2006 after skeletal remains of children and women were discovered near a bungalow in Noida’s Sector 31, owned by businessman Moninder Singh Pandher. The gruesome revelations sparked national outrage and led to multiple investigations and trials.
Pandher, a co-accused, was released in October 2023 after being acquitted in related cases. Koli, who was 30 at the time of his arrest, had been sentenced to death in several cases, though the Allahabad High Court commuted one of those sentences to life imprisonment in 2015 due to delays in processing his mercy plea.
On Tuesday, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath acquitted Koli in the final case, which involved the alleged rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl. The court ruled that “criminal law does not permit conviction on conjecture or on a hunch” and ordered his immediate release if not wanted in any other matter.
While acknowledging the horrific nature of the crimes and the suffering of the victims’ families, the court said the prosecution had failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. It cited serious lapses in the investigation, including failure to secure the crime scene, delayed disclosures, neglect of key witnesses, mishandling of forensic evidence, and the ignoring of leads such as a possible organ trade angle raised by a government panel.
The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed all appeals against the October 2023 acquittals of both Koli and Pandher. In its ruling, the bench expressed regret that despite years of investigation, the identity of the actual perpetrator had not been legally established.