A broad time line of the grisly Nithari murders of 2006
Human skulls, bones found in a drain behind a bungalow in Noida’s Sector 31 near Nithari village. Owner Moninder Singh Pandher, his house help Surender Koli arrested
The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted prime suspect Surinder Koli in 12 cases of the 2005-2006 Noida serial murders case, also called the Nithari case. Koli had been awarded the death penalty by the trial court In all 12 cases. Another suspect, Moninder Singh Pandher, was also acquitted by the High Court in two cases in which he was sentenced to death by the trial court.
A bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi passed the order while allowing the appeals filed by Pandher and Koli after reserving the judgment in the cases last month.
Earlier, Koli was given death sentences in 12 cases while Pandher, Koli’s employer, was sentenced to death in two cases by the trial courts.
Here’s a broad outline of the multiple murder case, which made national headlines in late 2006.
Dec 29, 2006: Fifteen human skulls, skeletal remains and fragments of clothes stuffed in gunny bags found in a drain behind bungalow number D-5 in Noida’s Sector 31, adjacent to Nithari village. Noida police arrest bungalor owner Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surender Koli on charges of rape and murder.
December 30: More skeletons found. Five policemen suspended for mishandling the investigation as some parents alleged that they had complained almost two years ago that their children had gone missing.
After the initial investigation in cases by the Uttar Pradesh police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation on January 11, 2007 and filed 16 charge sheets in as many cases. Koli was charge sheeted i in all the cases for murder besides other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Pandher was charged in only a single case under the provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Act; he was later summoned as co-accused in five more cases by the trial court.
February 13, 2009: Koli and Pandher were awarded death penalty in first Nithari case at Ghaziabad; Pandher was later acquitted of all charges by the Allahabad high court; Koli’s sentence commuted to life imprisonment in January, 2015.
May 12, 2010: Koli awarded death penalty in second case related to abduction, rape and murder of an eight year old girl.
Also Read: Surendra Koli, sentenced to death in Nithari horror, acquitted by Allahabad HC
September 28, 2010: Koli awarded death penalty in third case of nine-year-old girl.
December 22, 2010: Koli awarded death penalty in fourth case involving a 12-year-old girl.
December 24, 2012: Koli awarded death penalty in fifth case related to five-year-old girl.
October 7, 2016: Koli awarded death penalty in sixth case related to a 25-year-old domestic help.
December 16, 2016: Koli awarded death penalty in the seventh Nithari case, related to 12-year-old girl
July 22, 2017: Both Koli and Pandher awarded death penalties in the eighth case related to 20-year-old Pinky Sarkar.
December 8, 2017: Both Pandher and Koli awarded death penalties in the ninth case related to the murder of 25- year-old domestic help.
March 2, 2019: Koli awarded death penalty in the 10th Nithari case related to the murder of another girl who was 14.
April 6, 2019: Koli awarded the death penalty for the murder of a 10-year-old in Nithari, the 11th case. Pandher summoned as co-accused but was let off as no evidence was found against him .
January 16, 2021: Koli awarded another death penalty in th 12th Nithari case related to the murder of 20-year-old domestic help; Pandher acquitted
March 26, 2021: Koli acquitted by a Ghaziabad court in the 13th case in which he was charged with the destruction of evidence, abduction, attempted rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl. The was the first case in which Koli was acquitted while in previous 12 cases he was awarded death penalty by the trial court in Ghaziabad.
