Nithari Case Acquittal Surinder Koli Found Dead in Haridwar Tea Stall

Surinder Koli, who spent years in prison as the prime accused in the 2006 Nithari killings before being cleared by the Supreme Court, has been found dead in Haridwar. He was working as a tea vendor in the city after his acquittal.

According to the police, the Sapt Rishi outpost under the City Kotwali received information that a man had hanged himself inside a tea stall opposite the Lalmata Temple on Sapt Sarovar Road. Officers who reached the spot identified the man as Koli.

Preliminary inquiries indicate that Koli had been living in Haridwar for a few months and ran the stall on rent. His body was found hanging from a rope. No suicide note was recovered from the shop, and the police have said the matter is under investigation. His family in Almora has been informed.

The Nithari case

The case dates to December 2006, when police recovered 16 human skulls, bones and items of clothing stuffed into plastic sacks behind a drain next to the D-5 bungalow in Sector 31. Residents of the nearby Nithari village had for long reported missing children, most of them from poor labouring families, but their complaints were allegedly ignored.

The breakthrough came after the disappearance of a young woman named Payal, whose mobile phone was traced to a local rickshaw puller. He said he had received it from someone at D-5, the house of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, where Koli worked as a domestic help. The evidence unearthed at the house led to what was initially believed to be a serial killing and cannibalism ring, and both men were arrested.

Charges and acquittals

Koli and Pandher faced charges of rape, murder and destruction of evidence across multiple FIRs. The CBI filed 19 cases between 2007 and 2010. Koli was sentenced to death in several of them, while Pandher received death and life sentences in others.

As the appeals progressed, inconsistencies and procedural lapses came to light. In October 2023, the High Court acquitted both men, citing a lack of credible evidence. The CBI, the Uttar Pradesh government and the victims' families challenged that decision in the Supreme Court, which acquitted Koli of all charges last year. While acknowledging the heinous nature of the crimes, the court held that suspicion, however grave, cannot replace proof beyond reasonable doubt.