British police charge extradited Indian with murder

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) British detectives have charged a man extradited from India with the kidnap, rape and murder of a teenager who disappeared as she walked home from a night out, a police spokesman said today.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 39, a migrant lorry driver originally from Punjab state in northern Indian, will appear in court in Southampton tomorrow accused of killing Hannah Foster.

The 17-year-old's body was found in undergrowth on the outskirts of the city in March 2003. She had been strangled.

Indian police arrested Kohli three years ago in the tea-growing district of Darjeeling in eastern India, where he had lived for five months and married a local girl.

After a long extradition process, an India court last month recommended his extradition to Britain. He is also charged with false imprisonment, manslaughter and perverting public justice.

''This charge marks the end of a long extradition process and the beginning of the case through the UK justice system,'' said a Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman.

REUTERS SM KN1552