Lagatar24 Desk
Allahabad, Oct 16: The two main accused in the infamous Nithari murder case were acquitted by the Allahabad High Court on Monday. While co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher was cleared in two of the two cases against him, the court declared accused Surinder Koli innocent in the 12 cases brought against him.
As a result of this decision, the death sentences previously given to Koli and Pandher have been revoked.
The Nithari murder case, which became one of the most infamous criminal investigations in recent Indian history, revolved around the uncovering of numerous human remains in and around the residence of Moninder Singh Pandher in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in 2006. The gruesome aspects of the case profoundly affected the nation and resulted in the arrest and subsequent sentencing of both Koli and Pandher.
Surinder Koli was given a death sentence by a lower court for the 2005 murder of Rimpa Halder, which was affirmed by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2011. Surinder Koli was accused of violently killing and afterwards axing children in the Nithari neighbourhood of Noida.
The court had stated that Koli “appears to be the serial killer” and that “no mercy can be shown to him.”
Koli faced a total of 16 cases filed against him, and he received the death penalty in twelve of those cases.
In relation to the Nithari serial killings, his employer, Moninder Singh Pandher, was found guilty in certain cases and cleared in others. Pandher has appealed to the Allahabad High Court the death sentences imposed in two of the instances by a trial court.
In two cases where a trial court had sentenced him to death, Pandher had filed appeals to the Allahabad High Court, challenging the verdicts.
