Surendra Koli, the main accused in the 2006 Nithari serial killings case, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court, died by suicide in Haridwar on Friday.
Koli died by hanging in the Bhupatwala area of North Haridwar, though the circumstances surrounding his death had not been fully established at the time of publication.
His death comes less than a year after the Supreme Court acquitted him in the last of the cases filed against him, leading to his release from prison.
The Nithari case dates back to late 2006, when the remains of several missing children and young women were discovered in and around a house in Nithari village, Noida.
Koli, who worked as domestic help at the property, along with homeowner Moninder Singh Pandher, was accused in connection with the killings, in a case that drew intense national attention, partly over how the initial police investigation was conducted.
Over the following years, Koli was tried across multiple cases tied to the killings, with courts repeatedly imposing and then overturning death sentences against him at different stages of the litigation.
His eventual acquittal in the final pending matter brought an end to nearly two decades of legal proceedings.
(It is a developing story. Further details are awaited.)
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