Hiren Mohini murder: Detective returns empty-handed

Auckland, Apr 6(ANI): New Zealand Police have failed to nab Indian-origin origin cabbie Hiren Mohini's murderer, after the detective heading the hunt for the suspected Asian man returned empty-handed from the country where the fugitive is hiding.

The name of the country cannot be identified for legal reasons, but a police source said that Investigation Head Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones visited the country in an effort to track down the suspected killer, who brutally stabbed Mohini to death in January.

Mohini, 39, died on January 31 after he was repeatedly stabbed in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden by a passenger he had picked up in the central business district.

The country to which the suspect fled does not have an extradition treaty with New Zealand, which could pose some difficulties if he was found and police wanted him brought back to Auckland to stand trial, Stuff.co.nz reports.

Earlier, certain media reports had claimed that Mohini's murderer could have fled to China, and Auckland Police was in talks with international law enforcement agencies to locate him.

Detective Jones, however, had refused to confirm the claim that the suspected killer was in China.

A team of 50 officers have been hunting for Mohini's killer, taking unprecedented steps such as putting up in the central city a billboard of a man filmed getting into the cab.

Police also released security camera footage of an Asian-looking man captured on CCTV in the CBD before the killing.

He was carrying a bag similar to a distinctive bloodied blue bag found a short distance from where Mohini died.

Jones had said the bag and a distinctive black knitted cap in it could be vital clues in finding the killer. The cap had a large white logo outlined with three circles. (ANI)