New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear pleas filed by the CBI challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict that acquitted Surendra Koli in the sensational 2006 Nithari serial murder case.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan sought a reply from Koli on separate pleas filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the high court verdict dated October 16, 2023.
In May, the high court agreed to hear a plea filed by the father of one of the victims challenging the high court's order acquitting Koli in the case.
In this case, Pandher was acquitted by the sessions court, while Koli was awarded the death penalty on September 28, 2010.
On Monday, the high court said the pleas filed by the CBI would be presented for hearing along with the petition of the victim's father.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said Koli was a "serial killer" who lured girls and murdered them.
Mehta called the incident "horrific" and said there were allegations of cannibalism in the case.
The apex court had acquitted domestic help Koli and his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the Nithari serial murders case, in which they faced death penalty, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove guilt "beyond all belief." reasonable doubt" and that the investigation was "a botch. ".
Overturning the death sentence imposed on Koli in 12 cases and on Pandher in two cases, the top court noted that the prosecution had failed to prove the guilt of both accused "beyond reasonable doubt, within the established parameters of a case based on circumstantial evidence". " and the investigation was "nothing less than a betrayal of the public trust by responsible agencies."
Pandher and Koli were charged with rape and murder and sentenced to death for the murders that horrified the nation with their details of sexual assault, brutal murder and hints of possible cannibalism.
The top court had admitted multiple appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who had challenged the death sentence awarded by a CBI court in Ghaziabad.
In total, 19 cases had been filed against Pandher and Koli in 2007. The CBI had filed closure reports in three cases due to lack of evidence. In the remaining 16 cases, Koli was earlier acquitted in three and his death sentence in one was commuted to life imprisonment.
The sensational murders came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children in a drain behind Pandher's house at Nithari in Noida, bordering the national capital, on December 29, 2006.
More digging and searching for drains in the area around the house led to more skeletal remains. Most of these remains were of poor children and young women who had disappeared from the area.
Within 10 days, the CBI took over the case and its search resulted in the recovery of more remains.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan sought a reply from Koli on separate pleas filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the high court verdict dated October 16, 2023.
In May, the high court agreed to hear a plea filed by the father of one of the victims challenging the high court's order acquitting Koli in the case.
In this case, Pandher was acquitted by the sessions court, while Koli was awarded the death penalty on September 28, 2010.
On Monday, the high court said the pleas filed by the CBI would be presented for hearing along with the petition of the victim's father.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said Koli was a "serial killer" who lured girls and murdered them.
Mehta called the incident "horrific" and said there were allegations of cannibalism in the case.
The apex court had acquitted domestic help Koli and his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the Nithari serial murders case, in which they faced death penalty, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove guilt "beyond all belief." reasonable doubt" and that the investigation was "a botch. ".
Overturning the death sentence imposed on Koli in 12 cases and on Pandher in two cases, the top court noted that the prosecution had failed to prove the guilt of both accused "beyond reasonable doubt, within the established parameters of a case based on circumstantial evidence". " and the investigation was "nothing less than a betrayal of the public trust by responsible agencies."
Pandher and Koli were charged with rape and murder and sentenced to death for the murders that horrified the nation with their details of sexual assault, brutal murder and hints of possible cannibalism.
The top court had admitted multiple appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who had challenged the death sentence awarded by a CBI court in Ghaziabad.
In total, 19 cases had been filed against Pandher and Koli in 2007. The CBI had filed closure reports in three cases due to lack of evidence. In the remaining 16 cases, Koli was earlier acquitted in three and his death sentence in one was commuted to life imprisonment.
The sensational murders came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children in a drain behind Pandher's house at Nithari in Noida, bordering the national capital, on December 29, 2006.
More digging and searching for drains in the area around the house led to more skeletal remains. Most of these remains were of poor children and young women who had disappeared from the area.
Within 10 days, the CBI took over the case and its search resulted in the recovery of more remains.
