Allahabad/ Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court today acquitted the prime accused persons of the infamous Nithari Killings series of 12 murders, stating that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The primary convicts Surendra Koli and his co-accused Moninder Singh Pandher had been awarded been awarded the death penalty in 12 and 2 cases respectively by the trial court.

However, a bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi today acquitted both the accused persons.

The crimes came into the open with skeletons being found in the drain near a house in the Nithari village of Noida. Pandher and his servant, Koli, were taken into custody in relation to the disappearance of one of the victims (all of whom turned out to be girl children, subsequently).

Koli confessed to his crimes, following which the police began search operations and found the other remains.

The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In all of the 16 cases that the CBI registered, Koli was charged with murder, abduction and rape besides destruction of evidence. His master was also charged for immoral trafficking.

Koli was alleged to have lured the children to the ill-fated Noida house by offering them sweets and chocolates. He faced allegations of killing the children and then engaging in necrophilism.

It is alleged that he used to then dismember the bodies, cook and eat the body parts, and throw the bones into a drain or open backyard behind the house.