The Supreme Court has stayed Nithari killer Surinder Koli's execution for seven days in an order passed at 1.30 am. 

"Through the district magistrate we got the SC has stayed orders to withhold Surinder Koli's execution." SM Rizvi, jail superintendent, Meerut said this morning.

Koli's mercy petition was rejected by the President. He was was transferred from the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad district to Meerut on September 4 for the execution of his death warrant issued by the CBI court. Officials earlier said he was to be hanged any time between September 7 and 12, The Times of India reported.

Koli was shifted to Meerut because of the absence of hanging facilities in Dasna.

Forty two-year-old Koli was found guilty of serial rapes and murders between 2005 and 2006 at his employer, businessman Moninder Singh Pandher's house in Nithari. Remains of several missing children were found near the house.

Koli was sentenced to death in four cases and his death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2011.