Nithari Killings: Appeal in Supreme Court against acquittal of Moninder Singh Pandher, Surendra Koli

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government to a plea challenging the Allahabad High Court's acquittal of Moninder Singh Pandher and Surendra Koli, the two accused in the gruesome Noida Nithari killings [Pappu Lal vs Surendra Koli and anr]..A Bench of Justices BR Gavai, Satish Chandra Sharma and Sandeep Mehta also issued notice to the acquitted-accused who were on death row for the murder of several girls at Noida before they were acquitted by the High Court in October last year.The Court was hearing an appeal filed Pappu Lal, father of one of the victim girls..The Allahabad High Court had acquitted Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli in some of the cases concerning the Nithari killings. The High Court had overturned the death penalty imposed on them by the trial court. The High Court had acquitted Koli in 12 cases and Pandher in 2 cases, whereas they were earlier held guilty for murder and awarded the death penalty by the trial court in these cases.This led to the instant appeal before the apex court..As per the appeal, the High Court wrongly discarded medical evidence as well as the judicial confession of the accused as recorded by a Magistrate.Further, the prosecution case, though based on circumstantial evidence, had proved the guilt of those now acquitted, beyond reasonable doubt.Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra with advocates Rakesh Kumar Shivani Luthra Lohiya, Asmita Narula and Apoorva Maheshwari appeared for the father of one of the deceased girls..The Nithari murders took place between 2005 and 2006. The case came to public attention in December 2006 when skeletons were discovered in a drain near a house in Nithari village, Noida. Subsequently, it was revealed that Moninder Singh Pandher was the owner of the house, and Koli was his domestic help.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the investigation in the matter and eventually filed multiple case information reports.Surendra Koli was made an accused in all of the cases on various charges including murder, abduction, rape, and the destruction of evidence, while Moninder Singh Pandher was charged in one case related to immoral trafficking.Koli was eventually convicted of committing multiple rapes and murders of various girls and was sentenced to death in more than 10 cases.In July 2017, a special CBI court, presided over by judge Pawan Kumar Tiwari held Pandher and Koli guilty for killing of a 20-year-old woman, Pinki Sarkar, and sentenced them to death.Earlier, in 2009, the Allahabad High Court held Koli guilty but acquitted Pandher due to lack of evidence for the murder and rape of another victim, 14-year-old Rimpa Haldar. An appeal by Koli against this judgment was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2011. A review plea by Koli was also later dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2014.However, High Court, on January 28, 2015 commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on account of an inordinate delay in deciding on Koli's mercy petition.That verdict was pronounced by a bench of then High Chief Justice (now Chief Justice of India) DY Chandrachud and Justice (since retired) PKS Baghel on a petition by the Peoples' Union for Democratic Rights.In the judgment presently under challenge, the High Court had censured the investigating agencies including the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a "casual and perfunctory" probe in the matter. It had observed that by focusing on Koli as the sole perpetrator, the investigating officials overshadowed the significant likelihood of organ trade being the true motive behind the infamous crimes..Nithari killings: Allahabad High Court acquits death row convicts Surendra Koli in 12 cases, Moninder Pandher in 2.[Read order]