ND: HC stays Maninder's extradition

New Delhi, June 18: The Delhi High Court today stayed the extradition of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, accused in the rape and murder case of UK teenager Hannah Foster.

A division bench comprising Justices Pradeep Nandrajoj and PK Bhasin issued a notice to the Centre and asked for a reply till July 6. The court also summoned the records from the lower court relating to the proceedings of Kohli's extradition.

Kohli had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, seeking a stay on his extradition to the UK stating that despite his DNA mismatch the court overlooked the fact and ordered his extradition on the grounds filed by the UK police.

On June 8, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau had ordered Kohli's extradition on the grounds that it was a fit case and all the documents supporting his involvement in the offence were present. The judge relied upon the forensic, medical and photographic evidence produced before her by the British Police against the accused.

Kohli has contended that he has been falsely implicated and will not get a fair trial in the UK as he is an Asian.

Extradition proceedings against Kohli began in September 2004 and the order in this connection came on June 8 this year.

The body of the 17-year-old Briton was found on the outskirts of Southampton, Hampshire in March 2003. Police investigations revealed that Kohli was behind her killing, as he was identified with the help of photographs taken by the cameras placed on the roads.
Kohli had fled to India soon after the crime. Hannah's parents had come to India in search of Kohli. After Kohli's photographs were flashed across newspapers, he was tracked down and arrested from Kalimpong (West Bengal), where he was staying under an assumed name and had also remarried, on July 14, 2004 and was brought to Delhi.

UNI

RelatedStories

>