Nithari case acquitted Surendra Koli found dead in Haridwar, police say suicide

Surendra Koli, who was acquitted of all charges by the Supreme Court in 2025 in connection with the 2006 Nithari serial killings, has died by suicide in Haridwar, police said on Friday.

His body was found hanging at a tea shop in the Bhupatwala area of the city. Local residents alerted the police after learning of the incident. Officers took custody of the body and sent it for a post-mortem examination.

Police identified the deceased as Koli, an accused in the Nithari case. For some months, he had been living in a slum in Bhupatwala and earning a living by running a tea stall nearby.

Nithari case background

Koli had worked as a domestic help at the Noida residence of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher. The case surfaced in 2006 after skeletal remains, skulls and bones were recovered from the backyard and drains near Pandher's bungalow, D-5, in Sector 31 of Noida.

The discoveries, which pointed to the disappearance and killing of several children and women, triggered nationwide outrage and spread fear in the local community.

Koli was 30 years old when he was arrested in 2006 and was handed multiple death sentences in various cases over the years. Pandher, a co-accused, also spent years in jail before his release on October 20, 2023, following his acquittal in the case.