Nithari killings: Apex court confirms death for Koli (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Tuesday upheld Nithari serial killer Surendra Koli’s death sentence and said “no mercy” can be shown to him for the horrifying and gruesome crime.

The killings by Koli are horrifying and barbaric. He used definite methodology in committing these murders, the court said noting that after alluring the female victims to his employer Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Noida, strangulated them and tried to have sex with their bodies. Thereafter, he cut their bodies into pieces, cooked some of them and ate them.

The court said the Noida sector 31 D5 bungalow of Pandher was a slaughterhouse. It is a slaughter house. All these people we have found in your house,” the court said.

An apex court bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra said the crime committed by Koli, who worked as Pandher’s domestic help, fell into the category of “rarest of rare” cases and deserved nothing short of death sentence. No mercy can be shown to Koli.

In this case there is no sentence other than the death sentence that you (Surendra Koli) deserve, the court said.

The apex court concurred with the Allahabad High Court verdict upholding the death sentence awarded to Koli in the Rimpa Haldar case by the trial court. Besides, this case, Koli is also facing trial in 16 other cases.

Holding that the confession made by Koli before a magistrate was in order and suffered from no infirmity, the court said that in his confessional statement Koli gave a graphic description of the murders he committed.

We see no reason to interfere with the high court verdict holding Koli guilty of murdering Rimpa, the order said.

Appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha told that court: He (Koli) was very careful in the choice of his victims. It was a very pre-mediated, dastardly and cowardly act.

While confirming the sentence, the apex court, however, did not say anything about Pandher, who was also awarded the death sentence by the trial court but was acquitted by the high court.

But the court observed: “For two years, murders were going on in your house. Except for 15 days when you were away to Australia, to say that you were not aware of what was going in your house, it is difficult to believe.”

The court said that any confirmation of the acquittal of Pandher in Rimpa Haldar case would have repercussion on other Nithari cases where he is co-accused with Surendra Koli.

The Nithari killings pertain to the horrific discovery in December 2006 of human body parts in a drain behind Pandher’s bungalow. The remains were of the 19 young women and children from Nithari village allegedly raped and killed by Koli in the bungalow.

Koli was given the fourth death sentence in the serial killings Dec 22 last year.

Earlier during the hearing, court-appointed lawyer Sushil Balwada, appearing for Koli, told the court that there were many inconsistencies in the prosecution case and the conviction was based only on circumstantial evidence.

The court noted that Koli’s conviction did not rest just on the confessional statement but was backed by a lot of corroborative evidence.

The judges said that two girls Purnima and Pratibha have said that Koli tired to allure them also but they were lucky that they did not fall for the bait and were saved.