SC takes just 90 minutes to decide Koli''s fate

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The Supreme Court today took just90 minutes to seal the fate of Surinder Koli by confirming hisdeath sentence in a case of Nithari serial rape-cum-killingepisode, which perhaps may be the fastest decision by it in acapital punishment hearing.

The final hearing saw a bench comprising justicesMarkandey Katju and Gyansudha Misra giving credence to theconfessional statement of Koli to put a seal of approval onthe decisions of the trial court and the Allahabad High Courtsending him to the gallows.

The judges, after hearing Additional Solicitor GeneralVivek Tankha, asked 39-year-old Koli''s counsel to argue thecase against his conviction.

However, the lawyer at the outset said, he would makesubmissions against the capital punishment, which did notimpress the bench.

The bench said, "Koli has not retracted his confessionalstatement" and the circumstances in which the crime wascommitted was "premeditated" falling in the "rarest of rarecategory".

"In the statement, he (Koli) described how he allured thegirls and then strangulated them. He also confessed that heused to have sex with dead bodies and would eat parts of humanbody after cooking them," the Bench said in the order, whileholding that "no mercy can be shown to him".

A magistrate on March 1, 2007 had recorded Koli''sconfessional statement which he had given voluntarily.

"We are satisfied that it was a voluntary confession. Hewas repeatedly told by the magistrate that he was not bound toconfess and it might go against him. Despite that he wentahead with his confession," the bench noted.

It said the confessional statement was corroborated by thecircumstantial evidence as "body parts of the victims werefound in a nullah (drain) near the house and weapons used inthe crime were also recovered," adding that DNA testsconfirmed the identities of the victims.

"We see no reasons to interfere in the findings of thetrial court and the High Court that he is guilty of killingRimpa Haldar. It appears that he is a serial killer and thecase comes under the ambit of the rarest of the rare.

"The killings by Koli are horrifying and barbaric. He useda definite method in committing the crimes", the bench said.

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