The horrific details of the infamous Nithari killings case shook the entire country when the incident first came to light in 2006 but for the family of the prime accused Surendra Koli, the ordeals haven’t come to an end even after 17 years of the crime.
While speaking to AajTak.in, Koli’s brother said that the family left cooking onion and garlic as they feared that if the smell spread, the neighbours might think that we were cooking children and would attack them.
“We liked to eat meat and fish, but the day my brother went to jail, everything changed. For years, we did not even cook with onions and garlic. We feared that if the smell spread, the neighbours might think that we were cooking children and come to attack us,” Surendra Koli told Aaj Tak.
Talking about their struggles after Koli’s arrest on the charges of murder, rape and cannibalism, his brother said that over the years they were publically shamed and assaulted due to the perception created about them after his brother’s crime.
“For the past 17 years, along with Surindra, we too have been living as if in a prison. Our belongings were thrown out of our home. We wandered, hiding our names and faces,” the publication quoted Koli’s brother as saying.
“In the past 16 years, people have pelted stones at me, hurled abuse at me. In those years, I ended up only as ‘brother of Nithari’s Koli’ and nothing else,” he added.
On being asked how the news affected their family, Koli’s brother said that his landlord threw him and his family out of the house immediately after the crime came to light.
“It was in the winter of Delhi when we were thrown out of our homes without any notice. The house owner threw away our belongings. Clothes of my family, toys of my children and other household items were scattered on the street. People were calling us child-eaters (cannibals). They were threatening to kill us,” he added.
Koli also said that their relatives stopped answering their calls or taking them in when they visited their houses.
Nithari Killings Case: Surendra Koli Acquittal
On October 16, the Allahabad High Court acquitted Surendra Koli, the prime accused in the Nithari killings, in 12 cases while his co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher was acquitted in two cases due to lack of evidence.
While Allahabad HC has acquitted Koli in 12 cases, his death sentence has been upheld in one case, whereas in another case, based on delay, it has been converted into life imprisonment.
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