Nithari case accused Surendra Koli dies by suicide in Haridwar months after SC acquittal
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Nithari case accused Surendra Koli dies by suicide in Haridwar months after SC acquittal")
Surendra Koli one the main accused of the notorious Nithari killings Photograph: (Archive)
Surendra Koli, a key accused in the infamous Nithari killings case, has reportedly died by suicide in Haridwar. His death comes months after the Supreme Court set aside his conviction in the final case against him and ordered his release.
Surendra Koli, who was one of the key accused in the notorious Nithari killings case, has reportedly died by suicide in Haridwar, according to reports. Koli, who had been living in Haridwar’s Bhupatwala area, is reported to have been running a tea shop in the city for several years. Reports suggest that he was found hanging inside the shop.
According to an Aaj Tak report citing SHO Kundan Singh Rana, police received a call regarding the death at around 11:30 am on Friday (Sep 18). The circumstances surrounding his death have not yet been independently confirmed through an official police statement. Further details are awaited.
Koli, a resident of Village Magru Khal, District Almora (Uttarakhand), was a former domestic worker at the house of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher in Noida, which became the centre of the Nithari killings investigation after the remains of missing children were discovered in 2006.
Also read | Nithari Killings: Sector 36 to Truth, Lies & Murder, films and documentaries based on the case
Supreme Court had acquitted Koli
Koli's legal status had changed significantly before his reported death. In November 2025, the Supreme Court set aside his conviction in the final pending case linked to the Nithari killings and ordered his release. The court said the prosecution evidence used against him had suffered serious legal deficiencies and that guilt had not been established to the required standard.
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The Allahabad High Court had earlier acquitted Koli in multiple other cases, and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld those acquittals.
Also read | Nithari case accused Surendra Koli dies by alleged suicide: A timeline of the infamous 2006 serial murders
Nithari killings: 5 things you must know
The Nithari killings shocked India after the remains of children and young women were recovered from a drain near a house (D-5) in Sector 31, Noida in Noida in December 2006. The case went through nearly two decades of investigation, trials, convictions, and appeals. Here are five key facts:
1. Human remains of at least 19 victims were linked to the case
The investigation eventually identified at least 19 alleged victims, mostly children and young women. The case came to light on December 29, 2006, when skeletal remains were found in a drain behind House D-5 in Nithari, Noida.
2. Surendra Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher were the main accused
Koli, who worked as a domestic help for businessman Moninder Singh Pandher, faced charges including murder, rape, abduction, and destruction of evidence across multiple cases. Pandher was also prosecuted in several cases, including allegations relating to immoral trafficking.
Charges against Surendra Koli:
Murder - Section 302 IPC
Kidnapping/abduction - Section 364 IPC
Rape - Section 376 IPC
Attempt to rape - Section 376 read with Section 511 IPC in some cases
Destruction/disappearance of evidence - Section 201 IPC
The CBI's initial chargesheets accused Koli of abducting, sexually assaulting and murdering victims and disposing of their remains.
Charges against Moninder Singh Pandher:
Pandher's charges differed considerably between cases. Initially, the CBI charged him mainly with immoral ttrafficking/prostitution-related offences rather than the murders. He was later summoned as an accused in additional cases by the trial court.
In the case involving a 20-year-old woman, for which both men were eventually convicted and sentenced to death, Pandher was convicted under:
Murder - Section 302 IPC
Rape - Section 376 IPC
Destruction of evidence - Section 201 IPC
Criminal conspiracy - Section 120B IPC, read with the above offences
Koli was convicted in that case under Sections 302, 364, 376 and 201 IPC.
3. Koli was sentenced to death in multiple cases
Between 2009 and 2017, Koli was convicted in 13 Nithari-related cases, with death sentences imposed in several of them. In the Rimpa Haldar murder case, the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 2011. However, the Allahabad High Court commuted that sentence to life imprisonment in 2015 because of the prolonged delay in deciding his mercy petition.
4. The convictions later collapsed in court
In October 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Koli and Pandher in the remaining cases before it, citing the prosecution's failure to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The Supreme Court upheld those acquittals in July 2025.
5. Koli was finally acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2025
In November 2025, the Supreme Court overturned Koli's last remaining conviction in the Rimpa Haldar case and ordered his release. The court held that allowing the conviction to stand on evidence it had found unreliable in the other cases would result in a miscarriage of justice.
