The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 11, 2025) acquitted Surendra Koli, the prime accused in the Nithari killings, in the only case in which his conviction and life sentence had remained in force.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath had, on October 3, 2025, observed that it would amount to a “travesty of justice” to uphold the 2011 verdict when Mr. Koli had already been acquitted in 12 other cases arising from the same set of facts and evidence.
Nithari serial killings case: Citing shoddy probe, Allahabad HC acquits Koli, Pandher
“The petitioner be released forthwith, if not wanted in any other case. The jail superintendent is to be informed of this judgment immediately,” Justice Nath said while pronouncing the operative portion of the ruling in open court.
The top court was hearing Mr. Koli’s curative petition, his final legal remedy before the Supreme Court. A curative petition, typically heard in chambers, is the rarest form of judicial review and is entertained only in exceptional circumstances such as denial of natural justice, judicial bias, or a fundamental miscarriage of process resulting in grave injustice.
