The
Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a fresh plea filed by the CBI
challenging the Allahabad High Court's verdict that acquitted Surendra Koli in
the sensational 2006 Nithari serial killings case.
A
bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan tagged the CBI's plea with some
other petitions pending in the apex court against the high court order of
October 16, 2024.
On
July 19, the top court had agreed to hear separate pleas filed by the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Uttar Pradesh government against the high
court verdict. It had also issued a notice and sought a response from Koli on
the petitions.
The
apex court had in May agreed to hear a plea filed by the father of one of the
victims challenging the high court's verdict acquitting Koli in one of the
cases.
In
this case, Moninder Singh Pandher was acquitted by the sessions court while
Koli was awarded the death penalty on September 28, 2010.
The
high court had acquitted domestic help Pandher and his employer Koli in the
case in which they were facing a death sentence, holding that the prosecution
failed to prove the guilt "beyond reasonable doubt" and that the
investigation was "botched up".
Reversing the death
sentence given to Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in two cases, the high court had
noted that the prosecution had failed to prove the guilt of both the accused
"beyond reasonable doubt, on the settled parameters of a case based on
circumstantial evidence" and the probe was "nothing short of a
betrayal of public trust by responsible agencies".
Pandher
and Koli were charged with rape and murder and sentenced to death in the
killings that horrified the nation with their details of sexual assault, brutal
murder and hints of possible cannibalism.
The
high court had allowed multiple appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who had
challenged the death sentence awarded by a Central Bureau of Investigation
court in Ghaziabad.
In
all, 19 cases had been lodged 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.
The
sensational killings came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains
of eight children from a drain behind Pandher's house at Nithari in Noida,
bordering the national capital, on December 29, 2006.
Further
digging and searches of drains in the area around the house led to the recovery
more skeletal remains. Most of these remains were those of poor children and
young women who had gone missing from the area.
Within
10 days, the CBI had taken over the case and its search resulted in the
recovery of more remains.