No mercy for Nithari killers, five others

The serial-killer of Nithari has failed to get reprieve from death sentence from President Pranab Mukherjee. Mercy petitions of six death row convicts including Surendra Koli, found guilty in the sensational Nithari serial rapes and killings, have been rejected by the President. Besides Koli, mercy pleas of Renukabai and Seema (Maharashtra), Rajendra Pralhadrao Wasnik (Maharashtra), Jagdish (Madhya Pradesh) and Holiram Bordoloi (Assam) have been rejected following recommendations of the Home Ministry, official sources said. 42-year-old Koli, who brutally killed and later axed children in Nithari locality of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, was awarded death sentence by a lower court which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court in February 2011. In a case that outraged the nation, Koli was found guilty of serial rapes and murders between 2005 and 2006 at his employer businessman Moninder Singh Pandher’s house in Nithari. Remains of several missing children were found near the house.