Nithari killings: Koli managed to escape gallows twice
Surendra Koli, at the centre of the 2006 Nithari serial killings, narrowly escaped the gallows twice, just days before he was scheduled to be executed and was Monday granted another reprieve when he was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court.
Koli navigated the perilous twists and turns of the legal process and two death warrants – in 2011 and 2014.
The domestic help, initially charged in 16 cases of rape and murder by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was acquitted in three cases by a special court in Ghaziabad but was sentenced to death in the remaining 13.
In a case of rape and murder of a 14-year old girl, Koli was handed the death sentence on February 13, 2009 by a special court which was later confirmed by the Allahabad High Court. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the high court order on February 15, 2011.
In this case, two death warrants were issued by a special court in Ghaziabad which could not be executed because of legal moves undertaken by Koli days before his scheduled hanging by the noose.
The additional sessions judge of Ghaziabad issued a death warrant for Koli to be executed between May 24, 2011, and May 31, 2011, at 4 am.
Koli filed a mercy petition before the governor on May 7, 2011, which withheld the execution of the death sentence. The mercy petition was rejected by the governor on April 2, 2013.
The mercy plea was then placed before the then President Pranab Mukherjee, who rejected it on July 20, 2014. Koli challenged the decision before the Supreme Court, seeking a review, but the petition was dismissed on July 24, 2014.
Another warrant for Koli’s execution was issued by additional sessions judge on September 2, 2014, which scheduled the execution on any day between September 7, 2014, and September 12, 2014, at 6 am.
Two days later, he was shifted from the Dasna Jail in Ghaziabad to the District Prison in Meerut for execution of the death sentence since Dasna did not have the facilities. It was then that Koli came to know about his impending execution.
An application was filed for the restoration of review before the Supreme Court on September 6. The apex court moved at 1 am on September 8, 2014, when the death warrant was stayed for a week.
The execution was again stayed on September 12 with a hearing being scheduled on October 28. In the meantime, Koli was brought back to Dasna. His plea for review was dismissed by the Supreme Court on October 28, 2014.
Three days later, a case was filed before the Allahabad High Court by the Peoples’ Union for Democratic Rights which resulted in the commutation of Koli’s death sentence to life imprisonment in the case.
The 14-year-old girl’s father challenged the order passed by the high court in the apex court which remains pending.
Koli also managed to ditch the noose in the remaining 12 cases in which the high court acquitted him on Monday. He, however, will continue to serve life term till further orders from a competent court.
