Nithari Killings : Surendra Koli To Walk Free As Supreme Court Sets Aside His Only Remaining Conviction

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the conviction of Surendra Koli in the last remaining case related to Nithari killings.A bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Vikram Nath allowed the curative petition filed by Koli against the 2011 judgment of the Supreme Court, which had confirmed his conviction in one of the cases. Koli sought curative on the basis of his subsequent acquittal in twelve other cases.Justice Nath, who pronounced the order, stated that Koli is acquitted of the charges. The judgment dated 15.02.2011 of the Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction, and the order dated 28.10.2014, which dismissed his review, were recalled and set aside. Allowing Koli's criminal appeal, the Court set aside the judgment dated 13.02.2009 of the Sessions Court and the judgment dated 11.10.2009 were set aside. Koli was directed to be released forthwith if not wanted in any other case.Surendra Koli's curative petition before the Supreme Court challenges his conviction in one of the Nithari killings cases, arguing that the same evidence used to convict him was later found unreliable in the other cases where he has since been acquitted.While reserving verdict on the curative plea, the bench had remarked that an anomalous situation will arise if the conviction is maintained, as he was acquitted in the remaining cases although the evidence in all of them were the same.This is the last remaining conviction against him after the Supreme Court in July this year dismissed 14 appeals against the Allahabad High Court judgment acquitting him and co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher in other Nithari killings cases.Court's observations Allowing Koli's curative petition, the bench said that two sets of judicial outcomes based on the same evidentiary foundation could not stand together. One affirmed Koli's conviction and death sentence in 2011, while the other affirmed his acquittal in twelve companion cases in 2025.“The tension is not peripheral. It goes to the integrity of adjudication,” the Court observed, adding that curative jurisdiction exists to correct “manifest miscarriages of justice” where inconsistent results persist on an identical record and undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.Identical Evidence, Opposite OutcomesThe bench noted that both sets of cases rested on the same evidence: Koli's alleged confession under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the recoveries claimed under Section 27 of the Evidence Act. While these were relied upon to uphold the conviction in 2011, they were rejected as unreliable in twelve other cases by the Allahabad High Court in 2023, a conclusion later affirmed by the Supreme Court.“There is no principled basis on which the same statement can be treated as voluntary and reliable in this case when it has been judicially discredited in all others,” the Court said.The bench held that Koli's confession was recorded after nearly sixty days of uninterrupted police custody without effective legal aid and under circumstances suggesting coercion. The Magistrate who recorded the statement failed to make the clear satisfaction note required by law regarding voluntariness.The Investigating Officer's proximity to the process, including his presence at the outset and continued access afterward, “compromised the environment of voluntariness.” The statement itself “repeatedly adverted to tutoring and prior coercion,” which made it inadmissible under Section 24 of the Evidence Act.Recoveries Not Legally ProvedThe Court also rejected the prosecution's reliance on alleged recoveries under Section 27 of the Evidence Act. It found that there was no contemporaneous disclosure memo and that the seizure records conflicted with the remand papers.The supposed discoveries were made from areas already known to the police and the public where excavation had already begun. “These features negate the essential element of discovery by the accused and reduce the exercise to a seizure from an already known place,” the judgment stated.Forensic Evidence InconclusiveThe Court found that searches of house D-5 in Nithari yielded no bloodstains, tissue, or transfer patterns consistent with multiple homicides. Weapons allegedly used in the crimes bore no traces of blood or hair, and while DNA tests linked skeletal remains to the victims' families, they did not connect the petitioner to the crimes.“There was no credible chain of custody or expert testimony establishing that a domestic help with no medical training could perform the precise dismemberment described,” the bench noted. These gaps, the Court said, were central to the acquittals in other cases and were equally present here.Systemic Lapses In InvestigationThe judgment delivered a strong critique of the police investigation, describing it as marred by “negligence and delay” that corroded the fact-finding process.“The scene was not secured before excavation began, the disclosure was not contemporaneously...

Nithari Killings : Surendra Koli To Walk Free As Supreme Court Sets Aside His Only Remaining Conviction

Amisha Shrivastava

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