Supreme Court stays death sentence of Nithari killer Surendra Koli

The Supreme Court early this morning, deferred the hanging of Nithari serial killings convict Surendra Koli who was to be hanged in a Meerut jail on 12 September. The apex court, in its order passed at 1.30 am, has deferred the hanging for a week, NDTV reported. Koli is presently in a high-security barrack in the Meerut jail and being a special category prisoner, is to be kept under CCTV surveillance till a day before his hanging. [caption id=“attachment_1701509” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters image[/caption] The stay order comes following last week’s SC order saying review petitions of death penalty convicts should be heard in an open court, and the convict’s counsel should be given a half an hour to present his case. While Koli’s review petition was dismissed, his counsel once again approached the Supreme Court following last week’s verdict. So far, Koli has not reportedly intimated the authorities about his last wish. He has been reading religious texts since morning, the Meerut Jail Superintendent said. Koli will be the 18th criminal to be hanged in the Meerut jail. A warrant was issued on 3 September by Ghaziabad’s Additional sessions Judge Atul Kumar Gupta in the name of 42-year-old Koli stating that he should be hanged to death after he had exhausted all his legal remedies in this case. Koli has been sentenced to death in connection with the killing of Rimpa Halder and in four other cases. This could be the first execution of a death sentence convict under the new NDA government. Koli was awarded the death sentence by a lower court, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court on 15 February, 2011 for the murder of Rimpa Halder in 2005. Holding that Koli “appears to be the serial killer”, the court had said “No mercy can be shown to him.” A total of 16 cases were registered against Koli. His employer Moninder Singh Pandher, who was also sentenced to death in Rimpa Halder case, was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court. Out of 16 cases filed against Koli, he has been awarded death sentence in five of them so far and others are still under trial. with PTI inputs