Surendra Koli, acquitted in all Nithari cases, was found hanging at a Haridwar tea stall.
Police said Koli arrived in Haridwar three days earlier to work at the tea shop.
His death comes months after the Supreme Court overturned his final Nithari conviction.
Surendra Koli, who was cleared in all criminal cases tied to the 2006 Nithari killings, allegedly died by suicide in Haridwar. Police said they found him hanging at a tea stall on Sapt Sarovar Road, opposite Lal Mata Temple, in the northern part of the city on Friday.
After local residents alerted them, police went to the spot and found Koli inside the tea shop. He had been living away from his family and had reached Haridwar about three days earlier to take up work at the tea stall, as per News18.
Police Probe Details
The tea shop was owned by someone else, and Koli had come there for work. Police have spoken to his brother and informed the family. They are also trying to piece together his movements and what led up to his death.
He was from Mangrukhala village in the Bhikiyasen area of Almora district, Uttarakhand. Police said they found no suicide note at the scene and investigators are looking at the case from every possible angle. The exact cause and circumstances of death are still to be established after the investigation and postmortem examination.
Supreme Court Relief
Koli’s death comes less than a year after the Supreme Court ended the criminal proceedings against him in the Nithari matter.
On November 11, 2025, the court accepted his curative petition and overturned his conviction in the final case still pending over the killings. A bench led by then Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said Koli had already been cleared in 12 other cases.
The bench also directed that he be released immediately, so long as he was not needed in any other case. That ruling effectively closed the last criminal proceeding against him in the matter.
Nithari Killing Case
The Nithari killings came to light in December 2006, when the skeletal remains of children were pulled from a drain behind businessman Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Nithari, Noida.
The case sparked public anger and set off a lengthy legal fight involving Koli and Pandher. Koli first faced convictions in multiple cases tied to the killings.
He was later acquitted in several cases by different courts. The Supreme Court’s November 2025 order in the final pending matter effectively brought the criminal proceedings against him in connection with the Nithari killings to an end.
