Nithari killings: Supreme Court rejects appeals against acquittal of Koli, Pandher filed by CBI, others

In a major setback to the Central bureau of investigation (CBI) and the families of the victims of the 2006 Nithari serial killings, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 30 July, dismissed 14 appeals of the probe agency and some family members challenging the acquittal of Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surendra Koli.

The gruesome killings came to light after the discovery of skeletal remains of eight children from a drain behind Pandher's house at Nithari in Noida, bordering the national capital, on 29 December, 2006.

Further digging and searches of drains in the area around Pandher's house led to more skeletal remains, most of them of poor children and young women who had gone missing from the area.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and K. Vinod Chandran dismissed the 14 appeals on Wednesday. Twelve pleas were filed by the CBI and the other two by Pappu Lal and Anil Haldar.

"It is rather complimentary of the judges of the High Court for writing such a judgment. There must be a lot of media pressure and all that. By withstanding such pressure they have given such a...The trial court sorry to say must have been on the basis of media trial", Justice Gavai remarked, adding that the appellants failed to point out a single perversity in the high court judgment.

"There is no perversity in the Allahabad High Court judgement... (the petitions are) dismissed," the CJI said after a brief hearing.

At the outset, the CJI asked Raja B. Thakare, appearing for the CBI, and senior advocate Geeta Luthra, representing the victims' family members, to show what was wrong and "perverse" with the findings of the high court.

"Show me one judgement which says that any recovery made without recording of the statement of an accused before the police is permissible in law," the CJI asked when Luthra and the CBI counsel referred to recoveries of skulls of kidnapped children and their belongings.

Nithari killings: What kind of law is this that acquits monsters, ask parents

The bench referred to Section 27 of the Evidence Act and said that recoveries made at the instance of accused and their statements made before the police can be admissible in evidence.

The top court also referred to the recoveries made from a drain near the house of the accused.

It said these recovered objects and materials can be attributed to the accused if the place of recovery is accessible to them only.

"In appeals against acquittal by the high court, you will have to show that the high court judgement was perverse," the CJI said.

Section 27 allows for the admissibility of a portion of information provided by an accused in police custody that leads to the discovery of a relevant fact, even if that information amounts to a confession.

According to the provision, if an accused provides information that helps the police find something connected to a crime, that specific information, and only that portion, can be used as evidence.

The 'house of horrors' in Nithari, Noida. (Photo: PTI)

On 4 May, 2024, the top court had agreed to hear pleas challenging the high court's order acquitting Koli in the case.

It had also issued a notice on an appeal filed by Pappu Lal, the father of one of the victims.

On 16 October 2023, the high court pronounced verdicts on several appeals filed by Koli and Pandher, who were awarded the death penalty by the trial court. It acquitted the pair holding that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt "beyond reasonable doubt" and that the investigation was "botched up".

Pandher and Koli were charged with rape and murder and sentenced to death by the trial court in the killings that horrified the nation with its details of sexual assault, brutal murder and hints of possible cannibalism.

In all, 19 cases had been lodged against Pandher and Koli in 2007.