A cross-country chase

IT was a chase that began in England and ended in Kalimpong in India. A year after Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was arrested as prime accused fo...

IT was a chase that began in England and ended in Kalimpong in India. A year after Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was arrested as prime accused for the rape and murder of 17-year-old schoolgirl Hannah Foster, his extradition case is being fought in the court of the additional chief metropolitan magistrate at Patiala House in Delhi.

The prosecution has already recorded the statement of their only witness, D K Ghosh, an official from the Ministry of External Affairs. The defence is yet to record the statements of their 13 witnesses. The next date of hearing is October 20.

Kohli8217;s lawyer Charanjit Singh Bakhshi says: 8216;8216;We have given a list of 13 witnesses, out of which 2 are from India and the rest from England, including Kohli8217;s wife Shalinder Kaur. She had also filed an affidavit in the court in which she specifically mentioned that she had given a statement to the British Police under duress.8217;8217;

Kaur had earlier said she had no idea where her husband was on the night Hannah was abducted.

HANNAH Foster was last seen on March 14, 2003, near her home in Portswood, Southampton, when she left home for a evening out with friends. Two days later the Hampshire Constabulary found her body in a neighbouring suburb. In the initial stages of investigation, there was another Asian suspect who was said to be close to Hannah. He was picked up by the British Police but later released.

Kohli came next on the suspect list. His former employer, James Denis, tipped off the British police about him. By then Kohli had left for India where his brother received him in Ambala. On March 28, Kohli vanished from his family home in Punjab. The following month the Indian police issued a warrant for his arrest.

CASE FILE

Return ticket

8226; After his arrest, Maninder Pal Kohli confessed on TV in Kharar, Punjab, to raping and killing Hannah Foster
8226; In September 2004, Kohli8217;s extradition proceedings
began in Delhi
8226; In April 2005, Kohli8217;s wife Shalinder Kaur arrived in India and filed an affidavit saying her statement to the British Police was given under duress
8226; Kohli is now in Tihar
8226; The next hearing is on
October 20

A TEAM of three Hampshire officers, led by Detective Superintendent Alan Betts reached India on May 1, 2003, to assist the Indian authorities find Kohli. Finally, a special team constituted by the Indian authorities including Punjab police senior officials managed to nab Kohli in Kalimpong in July 2004. Residents of the area had recognised Kohli from a newspaper clipping and contacted the police. Till then they had no clue about Kohli8217;s past or that he had a wife in England8212;he had married again in Kalimpong.

Even as the British authorities began proceedings for his extradition, the Punjab Police registered a case against Kohli and his family on charges of forging passports. But these could not be proved and the case was dismissed.

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Hannah8217;s parents, meanwhile, are waiting for Kohli to be be sent back to Britain where he8217;ll be tried for murder.