HC turns down plea of Kohli to summon witnesses from England

New Delhi, Mar 17 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today turned down the plea of Manider Singh Kohli, accused in the murder of British School girl Hannah Foster, to summon eight witnesses from Britain but allowed the trial court to record the testimony of his wife and brother.

While rejecting the plea, Justice R C Jain said, ''The trial was on for extradition of the accused to the United Kingdom and not the trial of offence.'' Moreover the relevance of these witnesses have not been explained in the petition, said the Judge.

However, the Court allowed the trial court headed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) to record the testimony of Kohli's London-based wife Shailender Kaur and his brother Ishprit Singh within a month.

The court asked the government to pay for the air ticket of Kaur if she could not pay for it while making it one time exception.

Kolhi is facing extradition proceedings in the Patiala House district court to face trial in a British court on charges of abduction, rape and murder of Hannah Foster in that country.

Kohli had challenged the order of ACMM, who rejected Kohli's petition seeking summoning of nine witnesses from England to depose in the case before the court in New Delhi.

Filing a petion in the trial court, Kohli, a British national, had sought summoning of these prosecution witnesses from UK for their cross-examination.

Kohli's counsel C S Bakhshi and A K Wali had on May 11, 2005 requested the court, holding the extradition proceedings, to summon 20 prosecution witnesses who have been already examined in the UK and judicial records sent to the court here.

Claiming he never got an opportunity to cross-examine them, he had contended that as per the Extradition Act 1962, ''no evidence by a witness is admissible until they are cross-examined by the counsel of the accused.'' Describing the plea as ''not maintainable and unlawful'' the Centre had said, ''at this stage the court's role is limited to enquire whether a prima facie case exists on the basis of evidence already brought before it, and to look into if the allegations levelled have the ingredients of an offence.'' Kohli fled England on March 16, 2003, two days after 17-year-old Foster's body was found. He was brought here from Chandigarh where he was lodged after his arrest on July 15, 2004 from Kalimpong in West Bengal.

The wife of Kohli, Shailender Kaur, had turned hostile while deposing in the case in a Delhi court.

Kaur, who is based in the UK, claimed she had made statements implicating her husband last year owing to 'coercion and atmosphere of fear' created by the British police.

"My depositions dated November 2, 2004 in the UK was not authored by me and I was simply asked to affix my signature even without knowing its contents by using sheer force and coercion," Kaur said in an affidavit filed before the ACMM.

Kaur had denied the part of the statement where she gave an impression that her husband was nervous when he came home on the night of March 14, 2003 (the day of the murder) of Hannah.

UNI PAT MA DB1900