Overview
- Surendra Koli walked out of Luksar district jail in Greater Noida at about 7.20 pm on Wednesday, the jail superintendent said.
- A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath set aside the last conviction, calling continued reliance on it a manifest miscarriage of justice.
- The ruling faulted probe failures including an unsecured crime scene before excavation, contradictory remand papers, prolonged detention without court‑monitored medical checks, unexamined key witnesses, and an unpursued organ‑trade lead.
- Exercising curative powers, the court said two outcomes cannot lawfully rest on the same evidentiary base, referencing its July affirmation of Koli’s acquittals in 12 companion cases.
- The bench noted that the identity of the actual perpetrator has not been proven to legal standards, leaving families without closure and fueling criticism of systemic investigative and prosecutorial shortcomings.