Hannah Foster murder accused moves SC
Prime accused in the Hannah Foster murder case, Maninder Singh Kohli, has moved the Supreme Court challenging his extradition to Britain, reports Bhadra Sinha.
Prime accused in the Hannah Foster murder case, Maninder Singh Kohli, has moved the Supreme Court challenging his extradition to Britain where he faces trial for allegedly raping and killing the British teenager four years ago.
His petition will come up for hearing before the bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice RV Raveendran on Friday. Kohli’s plea before the Delhi high court against the extradition order by a special court was dismissed on July 6.
On Thursday morning, Kohli’s advocate Rajesh Srivastava urged the Chief Justice to fix an early hearing of the case because the accused can be extradited any time. However, the bench turned down the plea, asking him file a proper petition and complete the formalities.
Kohli has claimed in his petition that the DNA test on which the extradition magistrate relied upon is inconclusive as only 13 of the 20 bands matched. The British police had conducted the DNA test on the basis of the samples which they picked up from Kohli’s sons.
He has also challenged the magistrate’s finding on the ground that there are contradictions in the police investigation with regard to Kohli’s position at the time when Foster made the distress call to 999. Kohli’s advocate Rajesh Srivastava says: "The particular time when she made the call, Kohli was eight kilometers away from that spot where Foster was present. This revelation was made when the special magistrate sought the detail of the route which Kohli took to reach the spot where Foster was allegedly killed."
Kohli is accused of raping and murdering Foster after kidnapping her on March 14, 2003 from a place near her home in Portswood, Southampton, where she had gone on a weekend picnic with her friends. He fled to India and was eventually arrested on July 14, 2004, at Kalimpong in West Bengal and is still in custody.
