British Muslim charged with murder of Indian diplomat

A 49-year-old British Muslim was today charged with murder of Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre 20 years ago, and remanded to police custody till November 11, police said.

The accused, Mohammad Aslam, who was produced before the magistrate’s court in Birmingham, was also charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Mhatre, who was taken hostage in February 1984 by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front activists. The kidnappers demanded the release of Maqbool Bhatt, accused in the 1970 hijack and blowing up of an Indian Airlines aircraft, and the murder of a policeman in Kashmir.

Mhatre’s body was found at a farm in Lecestershire, central England, two days after he went missing. He had been shot three times in the head, chest and neck. Two men were sentenced to prison in February 1985 for Mhatre’s murder. Aslam was first arrested in the United States in July 2003 after being caught overstaying his visa.