Nithari case acquittal Surendra Koli found dead in Haridwar tea stall

Surendra Koli, who was acquitted in the 2006 Nithari serial murder case, has been found dead in Haridwar, police said. His body was discovered hanging in the Bhupatwala area and has been sent for autopsy.

Koli had been living in Haridwar for the past few months and ran a small tea stall opposite the Lal Mata temple, where he was found dead. He was a resident of the Bhikiyasen area of Almora. Police said his family members have been informed.

No suicide note was found at the scene.

"We have recovered the body of a man from the Saprishii area. The police have identified the deceased as Surender Kohli. Prima facie, it appears that he died by suicide. The forensics team is examining the body. Following the examination, the body will be taken for post-mortem. The body was found hanging. This is all that we have been able to ascertain so far. We will know more once we receive the report," CO City Haridwar Sishupal Singh Negi said.

The Nithari killings

The case dates back to 2005 and 2006, when several women and children were reported missing in Nithari village in Noida's Sector 31. In December 2006, skeletal remains were found in a drain and on an open strip of land behind a house owned by Moninder Singh Pandher, where Koli worked as domestic help.

Koli and Pandher were taken into custody on December 29, 2006. In January 2007, after more remains and clothing were recovered, the case was transferred to the CBI, which eventually filed charges in 16 cases.

In 2009, a trial court convicted both men of rape and murder and sentenced them to death, relying primarily on Koli's confession recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Later that year, the Allahabad High Court upheld Koli's conviction and death sentence but acquitted Pandher, citing a lack of substantive evidence against him.

Koli appealed, but in 2011 the Supreme Court dismissed his plea, calling him a "serial killer" and describing the case as one of the "rarest of rare". Between 2010 and 2021, he was tried and convicted in 12 other Nithari cases and sentenced to death, all on the same evidence — his 2007 confession and the recoveries made in 2006. Pandher was also convicted and sentenced to death in two of them.

In October 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Koli in all 12 cases and Pandher in the two against him. The state's appeals against these acquittals were dismissed by the Supreme Court in July 2025, making them final.