Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Meerut: A hangman in Meerut has become much sought after in the last few days as he awaits his maiden opportunity to execute Surinder Koli, the convict in the Nithari serial murders case.
Mediapersons assemble at Pawan Singh’s house from dawn till dusk every day waiting for his “bytes” ahead of the hyped hanging on September 12.
For Pawan ‘Jallad’ (hangman), as he is popularly known, all this hype and fame is not new, as he comes from a family of hangmen who have made history hanging famous convicts.
His grandfather Kallu had hanged the rapist kidnapper duo of Ranga and Billa in 1982, and also Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh in Indira Gandhi assassination case in 1986. Altogether, he had excuted 12 infamous convicts.
Pawan’s father Mammu Singh was a hangman in Meerut Jail, but never hanged a criminal, according to jail authorities.
Mammu had prepared ropes to hang 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab and 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, but died due to illness before he could do so.
After his father, Pawan had nurtured hopes to hang the two, but the executions were done in a top-secret manner by the Centre.
The hangman will finally make his maiden hanging by putting the noose on Koli in Meerut jail on September 12 as per court orders.
Koli was awarded death sentence by a lower court, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2011 for the murder of Rimpa Halder in 2005.
On Wednesday, a warrant was issued by Ghaziabad’s Additional sessions Judge Atul Kumar Gupta in the name of 42-year-old Koli that he should be hanged to death after the convict exhausted all his legal remedies in this case.
He has also been awarded death sentence in four other cases, while 11 more are still under trial.
The Rimpa Halder case came to light in December, 2006 when a girl who went missing was found murdered later by Koli.
Investigations into the case led the probe team into more gruesome murders of children and their skeletal remains were recovered from a drain adjacent to the house where Koli was working as a domestic servant in Nithari locality of Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
The case drew heavy media glare resulting in popularising of the accused and the whole case.
Pawan, however, avoids the media attention surrounding the case as he keeps himself focussed on the job, going to the jail everyday and preparing for the final moments.
