The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear UP government’s plea against commutation of death sentence of Surender Koli, convicted in 2006 Nithari serial killings case and issued a notice to the convict.
Earlier in January this year, the death sentence of Surender Koli was commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad high court on the ground of “inordinate delay” in deciding his mercy petition.
The Allahabad HC order came on a Public Interest Litigation filed by NGO People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) which contended that the period elapsed in disposal of Koli’s mercy petition was “3 years and 3 months” and, as such, execution of death sentence would be in violation of the Right to Life granted in Article 21 of the Constitution.
Koli, along with his employer Moninder Singh Pandher, was arrested on December 29, 2006, after the police recovered skeletons and other belongings of missing girls from the drain outside Pnadher’s house in Noida on the outskirts of the national capital.
Koli had allegedly killed several girls, chopping their bodies to pieces before throwing them in the backyard and in the drain.
Following is the chronology of events in the gruesome Nithari serial killing of children.
Dec 29, 2006: Nithari killings came to light with the discovery of eight skeletal remains of children from the drain of a house in Nithari, Noida. Two suspects- owner of the house Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli arrested.
Dec 30: More skeletons tumble out of the drainage
Dec 31: Two beat constables suspended as political pressure starts building up.
Jan 05, 2007: The accused taken to Gandhinagar for extensive narco-analysis test by Uttar Pradesh police
Jan 10: CBI takes over investigations in the case.
Jan 11: First CBI team visits Nithari to initiate probe in the case. 30 more bones found near the house
Jan 12: Moninder Singh Pandher and Surinder Koli quizzed by CBI
Jan 20: UP government files report to National Human Rights Commission
Feb 8: Special CBI court sends Moninder Singh Pandher and Surinder Koli to 14 days of CBI custody
Feb 12: National Human Rights Commission forms a committee to study the matter.
Mar 22: CBI files first chargesheet in the case in the Ghaziabad court. Slaps lesser charges on Moninder Singh Pandher. Surinder Koli, charged of committing all the murders besides rape and kidnap
May 1: Parents of three victims of the Nithari serial killings move court against the CBI for letting off main accused Pandher in connection with kidnapping and murder
May 11: Ghaziabad court asks CBI to probe Pandher’s role in the killings
Sep 6: Body of Jatin Sarkar, father of one of the victims in the Nithari serial killings recovered from a river in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district
Nov 01: The Supreme Court issues a notice to the CBI on the allegation by a relative of a victim that the investigating agency was trying to shield Pandher
Dec 13: Special CBI Court in Ghaziabad frames charges against Moninder Singh Pandher for the rape and murder of two teenagers
Feb 12, 2009: Special Judge of CBI pronounces Pandher and Koli guilty of rape and murder
-Times of India-