UK parents’ prayers answered, daughter’s ‘killer’ is caught in a West Bengal town

Kohli had put on the garb of a social worker in Kalimpong where he had set up home for the past four months. The superintendent of police said that Kohli was working for a charitable and voluntary organization.

In Kalimpong, he had said his name was Mike Davis.

Hannah’s father Trevor Foster, now in Chandigarh where he, along with wife Hilary, addressed a press conference yesterday, told The Indian Express: ‘‘We have heard the news about the arrest of a man admitting to be Maninder Pal Singh Kohli. But, we are trying to keep emotions under check till the formal confirmation.’’

His 17-year old daughter was kidnapped just 500 meters from their home in Southampton in March last year. Her mutilated body was found later and post-mortem report had confirmed rape.

Kohli, a migrant lorry driver, stayed close to her house and reportedly shadowed Hannah at times. With days of the recovery fo the body, Kohli fled UK, having dropped at his home in Patiala. But he was tipped off by his wife who was staying in the UK that the British police was on the lookout for him. He disappeared and a section of the police believed that he might have joined a religious sect in north India.

Hannah’s parents—Hilary and Trevor Foster—arrived in India a couple of days back, literally crying and begging for information on the killer. ‘‘Someone, somewhere must have information that could help,” they told in two press conferences they addressed in Delhi and Chandigarh.

Hardly a day later, the alleged killer could be traced in a sensational breakthrough in Kalimpong, a hill station set up by the British. The Superintendent of Police, Rajeev Misra, said: ‘‘Kohli’s pictures in disguise was the turning point. It was purely a police initiative. Some force members responded to the photographs published in the newspapers and they raided several locations in the town.’’

Kohli, it is learnt, got married about 15 days ago to a girl named Bharati Das. The girl was reportedly the daughter of the chief of the voluntary organization he had been working for.

Several local residents also got suspicious about the similarity they found between the published pictutres and the man they knew as “Mike Davis.” But by the time the police team raided his house in the morning, he had already left.

A red alert was sounded all over the district and the border points alerted. A special police team began the chase. The police then raided several places in Siliguri before tracking them in Panighata. Kohli was reportedly with his wife. But his wife has not been arrested, the police said. He was taken to Kalimpong for interrogation and would be produced before court tomorrow.

It is a sudden turnaround in a chase that went on frustratingly for the parents and the police. Till yesterday, Hannah’s parents were on a mission, issuing appeals while realising just how easy it was for a man to lose himself in a country as vast as India. Now, they seem to have run out of words. Trevor Foster would only add: ‘‘We are hoping that this will be the first step towards his (Kohli’s) extradition.’’

They were not the only ones keeping their fingers crossed. Detective Superintendent Alan Betts, from the Hampshire Constabulary, who has been on the case from Day One, acknowledged the unexpected breakthrough in a case full of twists.

Hannah’s body was found on March 16. On March 18, Kohli managed to flee from Heathrow to India. On march 27, a BBC Crimewatch viewer tipped off the police that Kohli was here. The next day, the man had fled again.

The trail seemed dead until the Fosters’ emotional appeal. Now Detective Superintendant Betts is hoping that the scene will move back to Britain where Kohli will face trial for his alleged crime.