The Allahabad High Court on Monday acquitted Surinder Koli, prime accused in the 2005-06 Nithari murders case, in all 12 cases linked to the killings. Koli was awarded the death penalty by the trial court in all 12 cases.
Moninder Singh Pandher, another accused in the case, was also acquitted by the court in two cases in which he was sentenced to death by the trial court.
The decision by the division bench of the high court comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi came as it allowed the appeals filed by Pandher and Koli after reserving the judgment in the cases last month.
The Nithari case relates to the alleged killing of several girls between 2005 and 2006. The matter came to light after skeletons were found in a drain near a house in Nithari, Noida in December 2006. The house was owned by Pandher while Koli was his domestic help.
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The CBI registered a total of 16 cases, charge sheeting Koli in all of them for murder, abduction, and rape besides destruction of evidence, and Pandher of illegal trafficking. According to the CBI, Koli had killed several girls by chopping their bodies into pieces before throwing them in the backyard outside their house.