Murder of wife; court allows extradition of NRI fugitive to US

"A prima facie case is made out in support of the requisition of the government of the USA for extradition of the fugitive criminal," Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Ajay Kumar Pandey said.

The court allowed the plea of A K Vali and Naveen K Matta, special prosecutors of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), that the offence allegedly committed by the fugitive was an extraditable crime.

The fugitive, then working as manager with a firm at Vancouver in Canada, allegedly travelled to Phoenix in the US to meet his estranged wife Navneet Kaur and flew out of that country on a one-way ticket after killing her on March 29, 2007.

"This court is not supposed to weigh the evidence in detail. In the inquiry proceedings against the fugitive criminal, only a prima facie case against him is to be seen. Veracity of evidence cannot be ascertained," the ACMM, who is the sole empowered judge to hear extradition cases, said.

The court, in its 23-page order, said there was "sufficient circumstantial evidence" as well as the confessional note of the fugitive criminal to prima facie suggest his involvement in the death of Navneet Kaur.