On Wednesday, Surendra Koli walked out of Kasna jail nearly two decades after his arrest in the Nithari serial killings case. This comes a day after the Supreme Court acquitted him in the rape and murder case of a teenage girl, the final one of the many that arose out of the Nithari murders in Noida. The ruling followed Koli’s curative petition – the last legal remedy available in the Indian judicial system – against his conviction in the case. His employer and co-accused, Moninder Singh Pandher, had already been acquitted in all cases against him in 2023.In its order, the court said Koli’s conviction, which it had once upheld, conflicted with acquittals in 12 other Nithari cases, all based on rejection of the same evidence.The allegations date back to 2005 and 2006, when several women and children were reported missing in Nithari village in Noida’s Sector 31.In December 2006, skeletal remains were discovered in a drain and on an open strip of land behind a house owned by Moninder Singh Pandher, where Koli worked as domestic help.Following the discovery, police took Koli and Pandher into custody on December 29, 2006. In January 2007, after more remains and clothing were recovered, the case was transferred to the CBI, which eventually filed charges in 16 cases.Story continues below this adThe prosecution’s case in the 13 separate trials rested on two main pillars: a detailed confession Koli made before a magistrate, and the recovery of skulls, bones and other articles allegedly at his instance.The first convictionThe curative petition decided by the Supreme Court pertains to one of the first cases to be tried – the murder of a minor who went missing in 2005.In 2009, the trial court convicted both Koli and Pandher of rape and murder and sentenced them to death. It relied primarily on his confession recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) – a provision pertaining to a confessional statement made before a magistrate.Under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, such a confession before a magistrate carries significant evidentiary weight, and the court found Koli’s confession voluntary and truthful, corroborated by the recovery of remains and a DNA report matching a skull with the girl’s parents.Story continues below this adLater that year, the Allahabad High Court upheld Koli’s conviction and death sentence but acquitted Pandher, citing lack of substantive evidence against him.Koli appealed, but in 2011 the Supreme Court dismissed his plea, calling him a “serial killer” and deeming the case one of the “rarest of rare”.After the death sentence was confirmed, Koli filed mercy petitions – the last constitutional remedy available to a convict – seeking pardon or commutation from the President or Governor. The petitions were rejected — by the UP Governor in 2013 and by the President in 2014.That same year, the Supreme Court rejected his review petition against the 2011 order, holding that there was no glaring error warranting interference.Story continues below this adIn 2015, the Allahabad High Court, hearing Koli’s appeal against rejection of his mercy petitions, said there had been an “inordinate delay” by the state in deciding them. Calling this a violation of his rights, the court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. The conviction, however, remained intact.Acquittal in other casesMeanwhile, Koli was tried and convicted in 12 other Nithari cases between 2010 and 2021 and sentenced to death. All were based on the same evidence — his 2007 confession and the recoveries made in 2006. Pandher was also convicted and sentenced to death in two of them.But in October 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Koli in all 12 cases and Pandher in the two against him. The state’s appeals against these acquittals were dismissed by the Supreme Court in July 2025, making them final.The high court dismantled the prosecution’s case. It ruled that the confession could not be considered voluntary or reliable, noting that Koli had been in continuous police custody for 60 days with no access to a lawyer. The confession also contained references to him being tutored and tortured.Story continues below this adIt further held the recovery of skulls and bones inadmissible under the Indian Evidence Act, observing that the police and public already knew about the remains and digging had begun even before Koli was brought to the spot. The recovery site — an open strip of land behind the house — was not under his exclusive control.Finally, the court noted the absence of corroborating forensic evidence, such as bloodstains or human remains, inside Pandher’s house.Final verdictThis created a legal paradox: Koli stood acquitted in 12 cases based on a complete discrediting of evidence, yet remained convicted in one based on the same material.To correct what it called a “manifest miscarriage of justice”, the Supreme Court exercised its curative jurisdiction, evolved in 2002 to “prevent abuse of process and to cure a gross [in]justice”. The court held that two irreconcilable outcomes on identical evidence could not lawfully coexist as it would undermine public confidence in the justice system.Story continues below this adApplying the same reasoning that led to the other acquittals, the Supreme Court found the confession and recoveries in the last case legally unreliable. It said the defects were not factual peculiarities but “structural infirmities inherent in the mode of proof relied upon across the Nithari prosecutions”.The court thus recalled its 2011 judgment and 2014 review order, acquitted Koli of all charges in the final case, and ordered his immediate release.