Koli gets 11th death sentence in Nithari murder case (Uttar Pradesh)

06 APRIL 2019 Last Updated at 7:36 PM | SOURCE: IANS

Ghaziabad, April 6 A CBI court awarded death sentence -- 11th -- to Surender Koli in the Nithari serial killing case, here on Saturday.

CBI Prosecutor J.P. Sharma said it was the 11th case in which Koli has been ordered to be hanged till death. But the court acquitted the co-accused Maninder Singh Pandher, due to lack of evidence. According to Sharma, a 10-year-old girl went missing after she had gone to deliver 'ironed' cloths at D-5, residence Pandher, where his domestic help Koli was living, on June 21, 2005. When the girl did not return home for two days, her parents lodged a complaint at Sector 20 police station on June 23, 2005.

Surender Koli (L); Maninder Singh Pandher (R)

The case was handed over to the CBI on June 11, 2007 and the agency submitted chargesheet on April 9, 2008. The court of special judge Amit Vir Singh held Koli guilty on Friday. On Saturday, the court awarded a death sentence to Koli and imposed a penalty of Rs 1.10 lakh on him. The court, however, acquitted Pandher for lack of credible evidence. On December 26, 2006 the Noida Police had recovered scull from the back of the house. In a DNA test, it was established that the scull was of the missing girl. The DNA report became most crucial evidence against Koli.

Thirty-eight witnesses testified in the case.

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/koli-gets-11th-death-sentence-in-nithari-murder-case/1510646 (accessed on 30 May 2019)

Nithari case: Ghaziabad CBI court awards death sentence to Surinder Koli, his tenth conviction so far

TNN | Mar 2, 2019, 08.52 PM IST 

GHAZIABAD: A Ghaziabad CBI court on Saturday awarded death sentence to Nithari case convict Surinder Koli in the murder of a 14-yearold girl. This is the tenth death sentencing for Koli while hearing is still going on in six remaining cases. Special CBI judge Amit Veer Singh while handing death penalty to Koli said that this comes under rarest of rare category. The CBI court on Friday had found Koli guilty under IPC sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 511 (attempting to commit offence), 201(Causing disappearance of evidence) and 364 (Kidnapping or abducting in order to murder). Breaking down the sentences public prosecutor JP Sharma said that under IPC section 302 (murder), Koli have been awarded death sentence and a fine of Rs 50,000, under IPC section 511 read with 376, seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs 20,000 and under 201 Rs 20,000 fine and rigorous imprisonment for seven years. 

A missing complaint was lodged in Noida police station after the victim a 14 year old girl went missing from house in Nithari and on December 30, 2006, skulls and human remains were found near Moninder Singh Pandher D5 house in Noida’s Sector 31 “CBI in its charge sheet had said that Koli had lured 14 year old victim in Pandher’s D5 house where he worked as a servant and had tried to rape her and later strangulated her with a scarf(chunni) and after dismembering victim’s body had thrown body parts in nearby drain and in gallery” said public prosecutor JP Sharma. “The victim’s identity was established after skull superimposition test carried at on number of skulls that was found near Pandher’s house in Chandigarh’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory” added Sharma. Koli meanwhile while speaking to TOI while awaiting verdict outside in CBI court said that there is no conclusive evidence to prove him involvement. “First of all I was not accused by victim’s family and no DNA test was carried out” said Koli. 

The CBI took over the Nithari serial killing cases in 2007 and during the course of investigation found Koli used to lure women and minor girls to his employer’s D-5 house in Sector 31 Noida. As per CBI, he had lured 19 women whom he raped and murdered, before dismembering their body parts and disposing the same in nearby drains. Of the 19 cases closure report have been filed in three cases and of 16 remaining cases between 2009 and 2019 Koli have been handed over death sentences in 10 cases now and six cases against him still remains. As for another convict Moninder Singh Pandher out of five cases against him he have been awarded death sentence in two cases.

Nithari accused Surinder Koli gets death penalty in sixth case (Uttar Pradesh)

Oct 07, 2016 16:46 IST

Hindustan Times

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad on Friday awarded the death penalty to Surinder Koli in the sixth case related to the Nithari killings.

The killings were discovered in 2006 when dismembered bodies of children and women were found dumped around the Sector 31 house of Koli’s employer, Moninder Singh Pandher, in Noida. The sixth case relates to a 25-year-old domestic help from Nithari in Noida, who hailed from Nepal and had served as a domestic help at Pandher’s house before she disappeared on October 31, 2006. Koli has also been awarded the death penalty in five other cases decided earlier at Ghaziabad.

According to the charge-sheet filed by CBI, the women had stopped working at Pandher’s house in August 2006 as she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. A day before the woman disappeared, Koli had called her outside the house and asked her to rejoin work. On October 31, 2006, she left her house at 7am and told her husband that after her work, she would go to Pandher’s house to meet Koli as he had offered her to resume work there. She never came back. Following a search, her husband and brother-in-law went to meet Koli, who told them that the woman did not come to their house.

Surinder Koli (L), accused in the Nithari serial killings, was on Friday sentenced to death by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. (Hindustan Times/ File Photo)

After human skulls, bones, clothes and other remains were discovered from a closed gallery behind Pandher’s house at D5, sector 31 Noida, the woman’s husband identified her salwar. A skull superimposition test also identified the victim as the 25-year-old domestic help. The hearing in this case started in 2013 and Koli was held guilty after the prosecution produced 50 witnesses. Koli was held guilty of abduction, rape, murder and destruction of evidence. Koli and Pandher were arrested in December 2006. In January 2015, the Allahabad high court commuted Koli’s sentence to life imprisonment in one case. He is lodged in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad since December 2006.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nithari-accused-surinder-koli-gets-death-penalty-in-sixth-case/story-0eDwFJdqvzuU9Gpm9XWzpO.html (Accessed 20 December 2018)

‘Lapses’ that led Allahabad HC to commute Nithari killer’s death

Written by Prashant Pandey | Allahabad | Posted: February 5, 2015 1:42 am 

The Allahabad High Court, which commuted the death sentence of Nithari killings convict Surender Koli, has cited glaring lapses on part of the state government in dealing with his mercy petition. “Evidently, the state government had no processes and systems in place to deal with or streamline the disposal of mercy petitions for death convicts, filed under Article 161 of the Constitution. Surely, a matter as serious as one impinging upon the Right to Life cannot be dealt with in such a cavalier fashion,” the court said in its January 28 order, the details of which became available on Wednesday. The court has pointed out the following lapses: 

* The processing of the mercy plea started on the basis of a Government Order (GO) passed on April 3, 2005, which dealt with grant of pardon by the Governor. Later, the Prison department realised this GO applied only to those convicts who were on the death row. 

* The principal secretary (Home) admitted in writing that he did not have the jurisdiction and competence to make recommendations on a mercy petition. Yet, the court found that he made a firm recommendation, saying Koli should not be granted mercy plea. 

* The Law department, which should have dealt with the matter in detail, went by the recommendation made by the principal secretary (Home), which was invalid. 

* The legal advisor to the Governor submitted that the findings arrived at by the courts regarding guilt, conviction and quantum of sentence of the convict was ‘binding’ on the Governor. The court said such an advice prevented the Governor from exercising his Constitutional rights. 

* On the issue of delay, the court pointed out that of the three years and three months taken to complete the process of mercy petition — May 7, 2011 to August 2, 2014 — the state government took two years and two months, while the Centre took one year and 15 days. 

* Further, the court pointed out that even the first basic exercise – of the reports being called from district magistrates of Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar as well as prison authorities took nearly one-and-a-half years. 

* Referring to the Jail Manual — which gives seven days to convicts for filing a mercy petition — the court said, “Surely, if such an obligation is cast upon the convict, the least that is to be expected is, a decision on a petition ought not to be prolonged unduly.” 

* The court also took into account the plea of the petitioners that Koli had, in violation of Constitutional provisions, been kept in solitary confinement since he was first convicted and handed death sentence in 2009. Under rules, a death row convict cannot be kept in solitary confinement until the order attains finality following rejection of mercy petition by the President. 

* The court took into account the wrong issuance of warrants by the Additional Sessions Judge of Ghaziabad, in which, instead of specific dates, a range of dates were mentioned for the execution. 

* The court rejected the plea of state authorities that the gravity of the crime and not only delay should be taken into account on the ground that law dealing with execution of death sentence too has a humanising element and had to be seen in the light of Right to Life. 

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/lapses-that-led-allahabad-hc-to-commute-nithari-killers-death/ [last accessed 06.02.2015]

Nithari serial killings: Surender Koli’s death sentence commuted by Allahabad High Court

Death sentence of Surender Koli, convicted in 2006 Nithari serial killings case, was on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad High Court on the ground of “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition. Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P K S Baghel held that execution of Koli’s death sentence would be “unconstitutional in view of the inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition. The order came on a Public Interest Litigation filed by NGO People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) which contended that the period elapsed in disposal of Koli’s mercy petition was “3 years and 3 months” and, as such, execution of death sentence would be in violation of the Right to Life granted in Article 21 of the Constitution.

A petition filed later by Koli himself, challenging the death sentence on the same ground as the one stated in the PIL, has also been clubbed with it. The death sentence was awarded to him by a special CBI court at Ghaziabad on February 13, 2009. The PIL was filed on October 31 last year, three days after the Supreme Court rejected Koli’s recall application. The death warrant issued by the trial court on September 2 had fixed September 12 as the date of hanging, though its execution was stayed in view of the apex court’s decision to hear the recall application.Rejection of the recall application had cleared the decks for execution of the death sentence, but it was stayed by the High Court on October 31 when it decided to hear the PIL.

After his appeal against the trial court order was turned down by High Court on September 11, 2009 while co-accused and his employer Moninder Singh Pandher was acquitted, Koli filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging his conviction which was dismissed on February 15, 2011. Koli, thereafter filed his mercy petition before the Governor of Uttar Pradesh on May 7, 2011, which was rejected 23 months later, on April 2, 2013. The mercy petition was thereafter forwarded to the Union Home Ministry on July 19, 2013 and it was turned down by the President on July 20, 2014. The court had agreed to hear the PIL disagreeing with the Centre’s preliminary objection that “the convict (Koli) had not filed a petition (at the time of filing of the PIL) challenging the rejection of his mercy petition”.

“The proceeding which has been instituted before this court is not in the nature of an appeal on merits against the order of conviction. “The petition seeks to question the constitutionality of the execution of the sentence of death in the present case, on the ground of a delay on the part of constitutional authorities in disposing of the mercy petitions,” the court had said.Pandher and his domestic help Koli were arrested on December 29, 2006, after the police recovered skeletons and other belongings of missing girls from the drain outside his house in Noida on the outskirts of the national capital. Koli had allegedly killed several girls, chopping their bodies to pieces before throwing them in the backyard and in the drain.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/nithari-killer-surinder-kolis-death-sentence-commuted-to-life-by-allahabad-high-court/2/ [last accessed 11.03.2015]