The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted Surender Koli and Maninder Singh Pandher in the infamous Nithari serial killings case in Noida for lack of evidence. Both had been sentenced to death on charges of rape and murder. While Koli has been acquitted in 12 cases in the 2005-2006 case, Pandher has been acquitted in two cases.
Both the accused were awarded the death penalty by a trial court.
The verdict comes a month after the bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi reserved its order last month on an appeal filed by accused Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher against their conviction and sentence of the death penalty.
A total 19 cases had been lodged against businessman Pandher and his domestic help Koli in 2007. The CBI had filed closure reports in three of the 19 cases due to lack of evidence.
The sensational killings came to light with the discovery of the skeletal remains of eight children from the drain behind Pandher's house in Nithari, Noida, on December 29, 2006.
Further digging and searches of drains in the area around Pandher's house led to more skeletal remains being found. Most of these remains were that of poor children and young women who had gone missing from the area.
Within 10 days, the CBI took over case and its search resulted in the recovery of more bones.
