As Surendra Koli Walks Free, Hangman Carries The Weight Of Father's Unfulfilled Wish

Last Updated:November 14, 2025, 10:20 IST

In 2015, Pawan was shortlisted to hang Surender Koli after the convict’s transfer from Dasna to Meerut Jail. But just three hours before the execution, a stay order came.

SC Frees Nithari Convict Surinder Koli. (PTI images)

As Surendra Koli — once branded India’s most chilling serial killer — walks out of jail a free man, one man in Uttar Pradesh feels the weight of unfinished duty. For Pawan Jallad, the state’s official hangman, the Supreme Court’s recent acquittal of Koli and his employer Moninder Singh Pandher in the Nithari killings is not merely a legal development — it is the fading echo of his late father’s last wish.

“My father was deeply moved by the Nithari murders and always said, ‘These killers should hang by my hands.’ Their acquittal feels like his unfulfilled wish," said Pawan Jallad, who executed the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case at Delhi’s Tihar Jail in 2020.

For the Jallad family — whose four generations have served as India’s hangmen — the Nithari case was personal. It wasn’t just about punishment, but about legacy, duty, and closure.

The Nithari killings remain etched in India’s collective memory as one of the most horrifying criminal sagas of the 21st century. In December 2006, skeletal remains of children and young women were unearthed from a drain behind the bungalow of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher in Noida’s Sector 31, near Nithari village.

The revelations stunned the nation: accounts of missing children, allegations of sexual assault, murder, and even cannibalism surfaced. Pandher’s domestic help, Surendra Koli, was accused of luring, killing, and disposing of victims’ bodies. Both were handed death sentences in multiple cases following separate trials.

But the cracks in investigation began to show. In 2023, the Allahabad High Court acquitted both men in several of the companion cases, citing “brazen violation" of evidence-collection norms and weak chain of custody. Then, in July 2025, the Supreme Court upheld those acquittals. The final chapter came on 11 November 2025, when the apex court allowed Koli’s curative petition, overturning his last remaining conviction and ordering his release.

The verdict, legally reasoned on grounds of parity and procedural lapses, marked an end to a two-decade-long judicial journey — but for many, it reopened the wounds of justice denied.

Pawan Jallad, 45, belongs to the fourth generation of India’s most well-known executioners. His great-grandfather executed freedom fighter Bhagat Singh under British rule; his grandfather hanged Indira Gandhi’s assassins; and his father, Mammu Jallad, served as Uttar Pradesh’s executioner for 47 years.

The Nithari case, Pawan says, haunted his father till his last breath. “He used to follow every news about the case. He would say, ‘These people have no right to live. They deserve the rope.’ He wanted to be the one to hang them," Pawan recalled.

But Mammu Jallad passed away in 2011 — years before the executions could take place. For Pawan, joining the UP Prison Department in 2013 wasn’t just employment; it was his father’s unfinished duty.

In 2015, Pawan came close to fulfilling that duty. He was shortlisted to hang Surender Koli after the convict’s transfer from Dasna to Meerut Jail. The execution was scheduled for 12 September 2015, and preparations were complete.

The hangman recalls the meticulous process: “We practise for ten days. We test the pulley, the plank, choose the right rope by weight, lubricate it for smooth tightening, and rehearse with sandbags," he said.

The setup was ready. The jail had been secured. The countdown had begun. And then, just three hours before the execution, a last-minute stay order arrived from the court.

“Everything was ready. We had rehearsed, the rope was set. But three hours before, the order came — ‘Stop.’ They slipped away again," Pawan said, his voice tinged with disappointment.

That stay effectively ended the Jallad family’s chance to carry out what Mammu had once called his “moral duty."

Now, with the Supreme Court setting aside the last conviction, Koli’s name stands legally cleared. For Pawan, that means the final nail has been driven — not into the convict’s fate, but into his family’s sense of justice. “The court has spoken. I respect the law. But somewhere inside, my father’s wish remains incomplete," he said.

Beyond the emotional weight of his profession, Pawan’s life is defined by struggle. He receives only Rs10,000 a month as a retainer and has long sought permanent employment and recognition from the Uttar Pradesh government. “We are called only when someone has to be hanged. The rest of the time, we are forgotten," he said. “I have five daughters. We live on this small allowance. Yet, when the moment comes, we are the ones the nation depends on."

In its 11 November order, the Supreme Court said it could not uphold a conviction based on the same evidence that had already been deemed unreliable in other companion cases. The court noted that maintaining one conviction under the same factual and evidentiary framework would violate the principles of equality (Article 14) and life and liberty (Article 21) of the Constitution.

As Surendra Koli walks free, the hangman of Uttar Pradesh is left with his tools, his memories — and his father’s unfulfilled wish.

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