Surendra Koli, accused in Nithari killings case, dies by suicide

Surendra Koli, who was acquitted last year in the case pertaining to the 2005-’06 Nithari killings, died by suicide on Friday, NDTV India reported.

Koli had been convicted by the Supreme Court in February 2011. However, he had moved the top court again with a curative petition after the Allahabad High Court acquitted him in October 2023 in 12 cases against him related to the Nithari killings.

In response to the curative petition, the Supreme Court had in November acquitted him in the last pending murder and rape case as well. He had spent nearly 19 years in jail.

Following the acquittal, Koli had moved to Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, where he had been running a tea stall, India Today reported.

The killings came to light after body parts of children and young adults were traced to Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Noida’s Nithari village in December 2006. Later, the police also discovered 19 skeletons in the house.

The Central Bureau of Investigation took over the case and alleged that Koli, Pandher’s domestic worker, had been raping and killing the women and girls, even eating their body parts, and, in one case, cooking them.

Pandher had also been acquitted by the High Court in October 2023.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
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