Nithari killings accused Surendra Koli found dead in Haridwar

Surendra Koli, the former domestic help acquitted in the notorious 2006 Nithari serial killings, was found dead in a tea stall in Haridwar on Friday, September 18, 2026. Police suspect suicide, though a postmortem examination is pending to confirm the cause of death. Koli's body was discovered hanging by a rope inside the tea stall in the Bhupatwala area of Haridwar, according to police. Locals alerted authorities, who arrived at the scene and took the body into custody. "Prima facie, it appears to be a case of suicide," a police official stated, adding that the reasons and circumstances leading to the death are under investigation. The discovery comes less than a year after Koli was acquitted by the Supreme Court in November 2025 in the final case related to the Nithari killings. He had been released from prison and had since moved to Haridwar, where he had been operating the tea stall for several months. Police said he had previously worked as a security guard in the area. The Nithari case emerged in 2006 when skeletal remains of multiple children and young women were found in a drain behind a bungalow in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.