Nithari case: Supreme Court dismisses 14 appeals challenging acquittal of Surendra Koli

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed as many as 14 appeals against the acquittal of accused Surendra Koli in the sensational 2006 Nithari serial killings case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and K Vinod Chandran said there was "no perversity" in the findings of the Allahabad High Court acquitting Koli.

Referring to Section 27 of the Evidence Act, the CJI said the recovery of skulls and other belongings of the victims from an open drain was not made following the statement of Koli before the police.

The bench said any recovery made without recording the statement of the accused by the police is not admissible as evidence under the Evidence law.

It said only those recoveries, which are made from a place accessible to the accused only, can be admitted as evidence in a case primarily hinging on circumstantial evidence.

The top court last year agreed to examine separate pleas, including those filed by the CBI and the Uttar Pradesh government, challenging the Allahabad High Court's decision acquitting Koli on October 16, 2023.

One of the pleas was filed by the father of one of the victims challenging the high court's verdict.

Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Koli were accused of rape and murder of people, mostly children, from their neighbourhood in Nithari in Uttar Pradesh.

Koli was awarded the death penalty on September 28, 2010 by the trial court.

The high court acquitted Pandher and Koli in the death penalty case, holding the prosecution's failure to prove their guilt "beyond reasonable doubt" and called it a "botched-up" investigation.

Reversing the death sentence given to Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases, the high court said the probe was "nothing short of a betrayal of public trust by responsible agencies".