THE Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted Surendra Koli in one of the Nithari murder cases by allowing his curative petition challenging conviction, paving the way for his release. Koli was earlier acquitted in other Nithari killing cases. The Nithari killings came to light with the discovery of skeletal remains of eight children from a drain behind businessman Moninder Singh’s Pandher’s house at Nithari in Noida on December 29, 2006. Koli was the domestic help at Pandher’s house at that time. The order was passed by a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath, which had heard Koli’s petition in the open court.

 

“For the reasons recorded above, the curative petition is allowed,” Justice Nath said while pronouncing the order. The top court acquitted Koli in the case and quashed the sentence and fine imposed upon him earlier. “The petitioner shall be released forthwith, if not required in any other case or proceeding,” the bench said. Koli was convicted for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Noida’s Nithari village, and his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in February 2011. His review plea was dismissed in 2014.