The Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed 12 cases against Surinder Koli, the prime accused in the gruesome Nithari murder case of 2006, while also dismissing the cases against his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in two of them.
With this, Pander is technically free, unless the prosecution appeals against the Allahabad High Court judgment in the Supreme Court.
In all, Pander was involved in six cases, of which three have been quashed by the Allahabad High Court -- including the latest two -- and three have been quashed by trial courts earlier.
It is likely that Pander could walk of the jail soon.
However, for his servant Surinder Koli -- who is the main suspect and has been accused of killing more than a dozen children -- freedom is not yet in sight.
That is because he is incriminated in 19 different cases. Today, the Allahabad High Court has freed him from 12 cases. In one case, where he was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court earlier, the prosecution has already appealed against the verdict in the Supreme Court.
The Nithari case involves serial murders that took place in the nondescript village of Nithari on the outskirts of Noida in Uttar Pradesh between 2005-2006.
It came to light in December 2006 when the Noida police discovered human remains near the house of Moninder Singh Pandher located in the D-5 neighborhood of Nithari village.
Pandher was a rich businessman who owned multiple properties in the area.
The remains were later identified to be of children reported missing from nearby slum areas over the past two years.
Later, it was alleged by the investigating agencies that Pandher's domestic servant Surinder Koli had systematically lured, sexually abused and murdered at least 19 children before dismembering their bodies and disposing them off.
Koli, who had been employed by Pandher for a few years, had allegedly targeted vulnerable children from the slums around the Pandher residence. According to the prosecution, he would tempt them with food, sweets or money and then once they entered the house, would sexually assault them before strangulating them with a noose or knife.
Koli would then cut up the bodies into small pieces, store them in refrigerators and dispose of the parts at night by throwing them into a sewer drain behind the compound wall.
According to the investigating agencies, the house had been lying vacant as Pandher was frequently away, giving Koli unchecked access to carry out his deeds for over two years until the police investigations exposed the truth.
After draining the sewer, investigators found multiple body parts belonging to at least 19 victims, mostly girls between the ages 8-21 years. The skeletal remains showed evidence of cannibalism as well.
The case has been investigated first by UP Police, and later by the CBI. The duo had been convicted by trial courts in more than one of these cases, and sentenced to death.
However, the Allahabad High Court today found that the evidence collected by the investigating agencies failed to establish their guilt, and acquitted them in 14 distinct cases, including 12 pertaining to Koli and two to his employer.