The
Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted the prime accused in the Nithari
killings case. Surendra Koli has been acquitted in 12 cases, for which the
trial court awarded him the death penalty. He was sentenced to death in over 10
cases.
Moninder
Singh Pandher has been acquitted in two cases in which he was awarded the death
penalty.
Surendra
Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher are the accused and co-accused in the infamous
Nithari murders in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Koli was found guilty of raping and
murdering several children between 2005 and 2006.
The
gruesome case came to light in December 2006, when skeletons were found in a
drain near a house in Nithari.
It
was alleged that Koli would lure the children to the house, offering them
sweets and chocolates, murder them, and have sex with the corpses. He was also
accused of cannibalism.
His
employer, businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, was co-accused of brutal murder
and rape in the Nithari case.