Heartbreak in Nithari: Acquitted Convicts Leave Families Searching for Justice

Wed Nov 26 2025 09:18:13 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The acquittal of Surinder Koli, a key figure in the infamous Nithari case, ignites fresh outrage among families of the victims. Nearly 20 years later, they are left questioning who truly killed their children.

In the wake of Surinder Koli's acquittal by India's Supreme Court in the Nithari case, families of the victims are left grappling with their anguish. Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher had been previously convicted for the heinous murders of children and women in 2006. Despite years of legal battles, families contend with unanswered questions and a lack of justice as they seek closure in a case that has left scars on the community.

Nearly 20 years after police found the bodies of 19 women and children near a bungalow dubbed India's house of horrors, the case is back in the spotlight - because Surinder Koli, the last of the two men convicted, has walked free.

On 12 November, the Supreme Court acquitted him in the final case pending against him, accepting his claim that his confession - which included admissions of cannibalism and necrophilia - had been extracted under torture.

The case dates back to December 2006, when police identified a bungalow in Noida, a suburb of the capital Delhi, as the site where women and children were killed and dismembered, and some allegedly raped. Businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and Surinder Koli, his servant, were arrested after body parts were found near their home.

The revelations triggered national outrage. Parents accused police of ignoring complaints that children had been going missing for more than two years. The case also exposed India's deep social divides: this occurred in an affluent enclave, while the victims were mostly from the neighbouring slums of Nithari, home to poor migrant families.

The two men were convicted of rape and murder and spent years on death row. Moninder Singh Pandher was freed in 2023, with the court eventually finding there to be a lack of evidence. Now his servant is out of jail too, bringing to an end the long judicial process in one of India's most disturbing criminal cases.

The BBC visited Nithari a few days after the judgement, and found that most of the victims' families no longer lived there. Two who remain in the neighbourhood are struggling to come to terms with the court order, asking - if Pandher and Koli didn't, then who killed our children?

In interviews since his release, Moninder Singh Pandher has said he was innocent. Surinder Koli has not been seen in public since leaving prison but his lawyer Yug Mohit Chaudhry stated, all the evidence against him was fabricated.

After 19 years, in the 13 cases in which he had been sentenced to death, he had already been proven innocent in 12 of them. One case was left, in which five courts had declared him guilty and gave the death sentence. Today, the Supreme Court has overturned those earlier four or five judgments in that case as well… These were extremely serious charges, but all the evidence was fabricated, Mr Chaudhry told PTI news agency.

The BBC has sent detailed questions to police in Uttar Pradesh state but has not received a response yet.

Many in Nithari are finding it difficult to come to terms with the verdict. Sunita Kanaujia, whose 10-year-old daughter Jyoti went missing in the summer of 2005, expressed despair, God will not forgive those who killed her. Her husband, Jhabbu Lal, who was instrumental in unearthing the serial killings, burned all the papers related to the case after hearing of Surinder Koli's acquittal.

In their outcry, the parents echo a common sentiment: if the convicts are innocent, then who are the real killers of their children? As time passes, the wounds of the unresolved case continue to fester, with families left searching for answers.