NEW DELHI: The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted the two-prime accused in the infamous Nithari murder case. The court found Accused Surinder Koli innocent in the 12 cases against him, while co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher was found innocent in two cases against him.
The judgment was delivered after the High Court considered 14 pleas filed by the accused. Surinder Koli had submitted appeals against the death sentence in 12 cases, while Maninder Singh Pandher had filed appeals against the sentence in two cases. The High Court had reserved its judgment on September 15 after concluding the extensive hearing.
The Division Bench comprising Justice Ashwini Kumar Mishra and Justice S. H. Rizvi pronounced the verdict. The Nithari case, which shocked the nation, came to light in 2006. The High Court meticulously heard the appeals over 134 working days. Surinder Koli’s initial petition in this batch dates back to 2010.
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Additionally, the High Court had already dismissed several other pleas filed by Koli. Notably, in one case, the death sentence was upheld, while in another case, it was converted to life imprisonment due to procedural delays.
During the court proceedings, the defence argued that there were no eyewitnesses to the incident, and the accused people were declared guilty solely based on scientific and circumstantial evidence. Some previous pleas filed by the accused had already been disposed of by the court, prompting an appeal to cancel the hanging sentence.
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The Nithari serial killings, one of the most notorious criminal investigations in recent Indian history, involved the discovery of multiple human remains in and around Moninder Singh Pandher’s residence in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in 2006. The grisly details of the case sent shockwaves across the country and led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of Koli and Pandher.
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