Nithari Serial Killings: Timeline of the Case

Year 2006

– 29^th December: The house owner Maninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help, Surender Koli were arrested.

-30^th December: Skeletal remains of children were found in the drain.

-31^st December: Two constables were suspended.

Year 2007

-1^st January: Clashes between villagers and the police over the murders. Police questioned Pandher’s relatives in Chandigarh.

-5^th January: UP police took the accused for a comprehensive narco-analysis test in Gandhinagar.

-10^th January: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took charge of the case.

-11^th January: The first CBI team arrived to begin investigations. Thirty more bones were recovered near the house.

-12^th January: The CBI interrogated Maninder Singh Pandher and Surender Koli.

-20^th January: The UP government submitted a report to the National Human Rights Commission.

-8^th February: The special CBI court sent Pandher and Koli to CBI custody for 14 days.

-12^th February: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) formed a committee to study the case.

-28^th February and 1^st March: Surender Koli gave confessional statements at Agra’s Central Forensic Science Laboratory, and the statements were videotaped.

-22^nd May: The CBI filed the first chargesheet in the Ghaziabad court. Mild charges were framed against Pandher and serious ones against Koli.

Year 2008

-1^st May: The fathers of three victims requested the CBI to drop charges against Pandher regarding murder and abduction.

-11^th May: The Ghaziabad court ordered the CBI to investigate Pandher’s role in the murders.

-6^th September: Remains of a girl who had fallen victim to the Nithari killings were found in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

-1^st November: The Supreme Court issued a notice to the CBI regarding allegations of trying to save Pandher.

-13^th December: The Special CBI court filed charges against Maninder Singh Pandher for the rape and murder of two minors.

Year 2009

-12^th February: The special CBI court declared Pandher and Koli guilty of rape and murder.

-13^th February: Pandher and Koli were sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Rimpa Haldar, one of the 19 cases.

-11^th September: The Supreme Court stayed the execution of Koli’s death sentence.

Year 2010

-7^th January: The Supreme Court imposed a stay on Koli’s death sentence.

Year 2014

-20^th July: Surinder Koli and the death penalty of five others were commuted to life imprisonment by President Pranab Mukherjee.

-8^th September: A court issued a stay order on Koli’s hanging at 1 AM on the same day that the execution was scheduled. The court noted that the petition had been filed before the court in the wee hours and the order was passed at 1:40 AM. Information about the order was conveyed to the concerned jail authorities.

Koli was to be hanged in Meerut jail on September 12, where he was kept in a high-security barrack.

-7^th September: The Supreme Court commuted the death penalty of Koli to life imprisonment.

-12^th September: The High Court had placed an interim stay on Koli’s hanging. The stay was extended until October 29, and on October 28, a bench of three judges heard the petition seeking a review. The court referred to the five bullet points and asked the lawyer for Koli, Indira Jaising, to file a review petition.

Year 2017

-22^nd July: The CBI court found businessman Maninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help, Surinder Koli, guilty and announced that the sentence would be pronounced on July 24.

-24^th July: The CBI court declared Surinder Koli and Maninder Singh Pandher guilty of the murder and attempted rape of Pinki Sarkar, a 20-year-old. This is the eighth case of 16 murder cases for which a decision has been made.

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