The wheel has come full circle for Surender Koli, the child butcher of Nithari. Convicted for raping and murdering innocent children, Koli will be hanged on September 12. Meerut Jail administration has started the process of his hanging and tasked Pawan Singh to hang Koli. The convict was transferred from Dasna Jail to Meerut on Thursday after the Special CBI court issued his death warrant. “Pawan Singh comes from a family of professional hangmen,” SM Rizvi, Superintendent of Meerut district jail told The Pioneer.
“He has been lodged in an isolation cell. He is having regular meals. He reads a holy book. A newspaper is also being provided to him,” said Rizvi. Pawan Singh visited the jail premises to check the platform, scaffolding and other paraphernalia he may require for the execution. “I will be happy to hang the Nithari child killer,” said Pawan Singh while speaking to The Pioneer.
Pawan Singh was born into a family of hangmen. His father Mammu Singh was the son of Kallu Singh. Mammu Singh hanged 14 criminals in various jails of Patiala, Jaipur, Meerut and Allahabad. Mammu had said he had no qualms and would rather feel proud if ever he got a chance to hang terrorists who attacked India’s sovereignty. Mammu had famously said Afzal and Kasab both should be hanged in public so that it would serve as a lesson to other terrorists. He had said he was ready to hang him in public if he was ordered to do so but his desire remained unfulfilled since he died before their execution.
As a matter of record, Kallu Singh hanged Billa and Ranga, killers of Geeta and Sanjay Chopra in 1981 and Indira Gandhi’s assassins. Pawan’s great grandfather Ram Rakha hanged Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh during British rule.
Koli was shifted to Meerut in the absence of hanging facilities in Dasna Jail. The trial court had sentenced both Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher to death, but the Allahabad High Court later acquitted Pandher. Koli’s sentence was upheld by the High Court and then by the Supreme Court. Koli filed a mercy petition before the President, which was turned down. The local CBI court finally issued the death warrant for Koli’s execution.
Millions across India and abroad were horrified when Noida Police in December 2006 found the remains of 19 young women and children from a drain next to Pandher’s bungalow in Noida. Koli and Pandher were arrested thereafter.