By IANS
New Delhi : British Indian Maninder Singh Kohli, accused in the 2003 rape and murder of British teenager Hannah Foster, Friday challenged his extradition order before the Delhi High Court saying that the judge of the lower court had erred in considering false evidence produced by the British police.
In a detailed petition, Counsel Charanjit Singh for Kohli claimed the subordinate court took into consideration the forensic report which was not scientifically based on DNA tests.
On June 9, a magistrate court had ordered the extradition of Kohli to Britain to stand trial for rape and murder of Hannah Foster with the stipulation that he be not hanged if found guilty.
While passing a detailed order, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau had said: "I hereby hold that there is sufficient material to establish a strong prima facie case against the fugitive, leading to an irresistible conclusion that the fugitive appears to have committed the offences of kidnapping, rape and murder."
"The allegations against this fugitive are serious and this court is under an obligation to ensure that the violator is put to trial and the rule of law prevails," Lau had said in her elaborate 110-page ruling.
Kohli is accused of raping and murdering the 17-year-old British girl 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.
Hannah's body was found two days later and was identified by her mother. An autopsy revealed she had been raped and strangled. After allegedly committing the crime, Kohli fled to India on the pretext of seeing his ailing mother in Punjab. But after reaching here, he went into hiding.
He was eventually arrested July 14, 2004, at Kalimpong in West Bengal and has been in custody since then. According to the British prosecution agency, Hannah was waiting for a bus to her home when she was dragged by Kohli into his vehicle, a refrigerated van of a food company.