SC declines to halt Kohli extradition

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay Maninder Pal Singh Kohli's extradition to the UK in the Hanna Foster murder case. It  fixed  July 20 as the date to decide his petition.

A bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice RV Raveendran refused to grant the legal reprieve to Kohli saying, "This case does not deserve any stay".

The bench refused to even accede to Kohli's counsel's plea for an early hearing - possibly by Monday, challenging additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau's recommendation to the Indian government to extradite Kohli to Britain, which was endorsed by the Delhi High Court.

The bench dismissed his plea saying the date for the next hearing has already been fixed. The next date of hearing is July 20.

Srivastava pleaded for early hearing saying his client could be extradited any moment by the government, which would not be in the interest of justice.

But the bench observed, "even the DNA test has confirmed your (Kohli's) involvement" in the March 2003 rape and murder.