New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday upheld Nithari serial killer Surendra Koli's death sentence, describing his crime as horrifying and gruesome.

The court noted that Koli, after alluring the female victims to his employer Moninder Singh Pandher's house in Noida, strangulated them and tried to have sex with their bodies. Thereafter, he cut their bodies into pieces, cooked some of them and ate them.

An apex court bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra said the crime committed by Koli fell into the category of "rarest of rare" cases and deserved nothing short of death sentence.

The apex court concurred with the Allahabad High Court verdict upholding the death sentence awarded to Koli in the Rimpa Haldar case by the trial court. Besides, this case, Koli is also facing trial in 16 other cases.

While confirming the sentence, the apex court, however, did not say anything about Pandher, who also was also awarded the death sentence by the trial court but was acquitted by the high court.

The Nithari killings pertain to the horrific discovery in December 2009 of body parts in a drain behind Pandher's bunglow. The remains were of the 19 young women and children from Nithari village allegedly raped and killed in the Pandher bungalow.

Koli was given the fourth death sentence in the serial killings Dec 22 last year.