Overview
- The bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justices Surya Kant and Vikram Nath on November 11 allowed Koli’s curative petition and set aside the Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling that had upheld his conviction.
- The court said sustaining a solitary conviction would be anomalous since 12 connected cases arising from identical material had already ended in acquittals.
- It noted the surviving case rested on a purported confession and a kitchen-knife recovery, the same evidentiary pillars discredited or deemed inadmissible in other trials.
- The judges ordered Koli’s release forthwith if not required in any other matter and directed that the jail superintendent be informed immediately.
- The judgment criticized major investigative lapses and said maintaining the verdict would offend Articles 14 and 21, closing nearly two decades of litigation after July’s dismissal of appeals upholding Allahabad High Court acquittals, including of Moninder Singh Pandher.