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New Delhi, In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the execution of Nithari serial killer Surinder Koli till October 29, while also agreeing to hear his plea for reviewing the death sentence awarded to him for brutally murdering several young women and children in Noida.
The apex court bench said that the case will be taken up for hearing on October 28.
The development comes days after the highest court temporarily stayed Koli’s execution in connection with the Nithari serial killings case. Koli had been convicted of sexually assaulting and brutally murdering a series of young women and children at a bungalow in Noida near Delhi.
In a midnight ruling on September 8, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of Koli by one week.
Chief justice designate HL Dattu passed the order staying Koli’s execution on his appeal. While passing the ruling,
the apex court bench said that every death-row convict has the “fundamental right” to a fresh appeal in an open court.
Koli was represented by his lawyer, Indira Jaising. Koli was to be executed Monday at Meerut jail.
Koli’s mercy petition was earlier rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.
He was earlier transferred from the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad district to Meerut on September 4 for the execution of his death warrant issued by a CBI court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad issued a death warrant to Koli after his mercy petition was rejected by the President.
Koli was shifted to Meerut because of the absence of hanging facilities in Dasna.
He was convicted for the murder of Rimpa Halder who went missing in Noida in December 2006. After a police investigation, she was found to have been murdered by Koli.
During the probe, the skeletal remains of many other children were recovered from a drain adjacent to a bungalow in Nithari, an area in Noida where Koli worked as domestic help for businessman Moninder Singh Pandher.
Both Koli and Pandher were sentenced to death, but later the Allahabad High Court acquitted Pandher and upheld Koli’s death sentence.
Koli’s sentence was then upheld by the Supreme Court.
