Hannah suspect's appeal rejected

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/hampshire/6918872.stm

Version 0 of 1.

An Indian court has ruled that the man suspected of killing Hannah Foster can be extradited from India to face trial in Britain.

The Delhi High Court has quashed the latest in a series of appeals made by Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 39.

Mr Kohli, who says he is innocent, left the UK days after the teenager died in 2003. He was arrested in India in 2004.

Mr Kohli's lawyers have claimed he would not get a fair trial in the UK because of a "bias against Asians".

The latest appeal was lodged on Monday only days after Mr Kohli lost a previous appeal against extradition at India's Supreme Court.

At the time of the previous appeal, the chief justices of the Supreme Court dismissed arguments by Mr Kohli's lawyers that he would not receive a fair trial in Britain.

Hannah was killed after a night out in Southampton

They said Mr Kohli must go back to England and face charges in connection with this "very heinous crime".

Ms Foster, 17, was murdered after a night out in Southampton in 2003.

The validity of that extradition order - granted in early June - had been challenged by Mr Kohli on the grounds there was no direct evidence connecting him to the crime.

His lawyer, Charanjeet Singh Bakshi, had said "the other evidence used to link him with the murder - DNA samples and the route taken by him to flee Britain - had not been satisfactorily explained".

The extradition process has involved more than 100 court appearances.

Hannah's parents, Trevor and Hilary, have travelled to India three times to appeal for Mr Kohli's extradition.

Raped and strangled

Hannah was abducted near her home in Portswood on 14 March, 2003.

Her body was found two days later and a post-mortem examination revealed she had been raped and strangled.

Mr Kohli left the country for India after being named as a suspect in the inquiry.

He was arrested in the eastern state of West Bengal, near the border with Nepal, more than a year after leaving the UK.

Mr Kohli has already lost appeals against his extradition at a magistrates court and the high court in India.