New Delhi: The Nithari serial murder case, which took place in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in 2006, shook the entire country. Surender Koli (53), who was considered the main accused in the case and later acquitted by the court, has been found dead, hanging in a tea shop in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The incident has caused a major stir in the area.
Background of the Nithari serial murder case: In 2006, children from poor families living in the slum area of Noida Sector 31 in Uttar Pradesh kept disappearing one after another. In a situation where the police were unable to find them, a case was registered in October 2006 in connection with the disappearance of a young woman named Payal.
Payal’s mobile phone was recovered by the police from an autorickshaw driver. The rickshaw driver said that a staff member from the D-5 luxury bungalow in Sector 31 had given it to him. Based on this, Surender Koli, who was working as a servant for Moninder Singh Pandher at the D-5 bungalow, was caught by the police.
The information revealed in the investigation conducted on him was unbelievable. In December 2006, when digging took place in the D-5 luxury bungalow complex and the canal in front of it, bodies, skeletons, and the skulls of 19 children and a young girl were uncovered one after another, shaking the entire country. Some parts of the bodies were kept in the bungalow’s bathroom and refrigerator.
Cases were filed for the murder of 19 children, including 10 girls. At the conclusion of the brain mapping and narco-analysis investigations conducted by the CBI, it was reported that Surender Koli was a psychopath and that he had killed the children and had sexual relations with the bodies. It was alleged that bungalow owner Moninder Singh Pandher was complicit in this, and 6 cases were filed against Pandher and 13 cases against Koli.
In its July 2007 verdict, the Ghaziabad CBI court sentenced Koli to death and Pandher to both death and life imprisonment. During this incident, the public grew intensely angry at the Samajwadi Party government, which was in power in UP, and resorted to stone-pelting.
30 police personnel, including senior Noida officials, were suspended. Politicians including Congress leader Sonia Gandhi visited in person and offered their condolences. An attack was also carried out on the accused within the court premises itself. The police had to rescue Maninder and Goli, who were lying in a pool of blood.
In the subsequent appeal, the Allahabad High Court released Maninder Singh Pandher in October 2023, saying there was insufficient evidence. An appeal was filed in the Supreme Court against the death sentence handed down to Koli. In this case, the Supreme Court said that the evidence submitted by the CBI was not legally admissible, and in the absence of proper evidence, it acquitted Surender Koli in 2025 as well. Koli was released after about 19 years in prison.
The mysterious death of Surender Koli: After being released from prison, his family did not maintain any contact with Koli. As a result, the 53-year-old Surender Koli was forced to wander in search of a livelihood. After his release, he lived in Delhi for a few months and later in Dehradun. There, since the small snack shop he ran was not doing well, he worked as a security guard at a private company in Haridwar.
For the past 3 months, he had been living under the fake name “Satharam,” hiding the fact that he was Goli. Three days ago, he opened a tea shop opposite the Lal Mata temple in the Haridwar Bhoopatwala area. In this situation, on Friday (Sept. 18) morning, he was found hanging in his shop.
Upon receiving the information, the Uttarakhand police recovered the body and conducted an investigation. When the identity documents found in the shop were checked, it was revealed that he was Surender Goli, a resident of Mangrukkal village in the Pichiasen area of Almora district, Uttarakhand.
Family background: Surender Koli is from Almora. He is the youngest of three brothers; he also has a sister. After he was arrested in 2006, his wife visited him in prison once. After that, she broke off her relationship with him. She later married someone else in Haryana. One of Koli’s brothers works in Delhi, and another brother works as a teacher at a private school in Almora. It has been reported that his mother died a few years ago.
Suicide? Murder? - Following the news of Goli’s death, Jabu Lal and Sunita, who lost their 15-year-old daughter Jyoti in the Nithari incident, have raised many questions. “Goli did not commit suicide. He was killed as part of a conspiracy. If he had intended to hang himself, he would have done it in prison itself. He may have known many secrets related to the Nithari case; he may have been killed because he was about to reveal them. We will not get justice until bungalow owner Moninder Singh Pandher is punished. Pandher is responsible for our child’s murder,” they have alleged.
In the initial investigation by Haridwar police, no suicide note was found. Although family problems are suspected to have been the cause of the suicide, the Uttarakhand police continue to investigate the real reason for the death.