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Maninder Pal Singh Kohli



Maninder Pal Singh Kohli


17-year-old Hannah Foster was murdered

 

Murdered Hannah Foster's family remember 18th birthday
By Charlotte Hawkins
Aug 31, 2003, 12:14

Police say they are still confident of catching the killer of Southampton student Hannah Foster - on what would have been her 18th birthday.

Hannah Foster was abducted just yards from her home in Portswood on March 14th after a night out with friends. Two days later her body was found dumped in undergrowth in the West End area of South. The call was made from the 17-year-old's mobile phone on Friday 10 minutes after she waved goodbye to a friend in Highfield Lane, just five minutes walk from her home in Grosvenor Road.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had been strangled but there was no sign of sexual assault.

Detective Superintendent Alan Betts said the call, which was logged at 2300 GMT, lasted for less than two minutes and had faint sounds in the background but nothing immediately discernible.

The prime suspect in the case - Maninder Pal Singh Kholi, who is 35, has still not been traced after fleeing to India days after Hannah's body was found.

Hampshire Police say the investigation is now in the hands of the Indian authorities - but officers are planning to return to India to help execute an arrest warrant. They say they are still confident that whoever murdered Hannah Foster will be caught.

Meanwhile Hannah's parents have asked for privacy to commemorate what would have been a special celebration for their family.

July 21: The Chandigarh detective leading the hunt for the fugitive suspect in the killing

of a British schoolgirl has been taken off the case amid mounting frustration at Punjab

police’s failure to make an arrest in over four months of inquiries.
Detective inspector Dinkar Gupta has been replaced by inspector-general

Ravinder Gupta as head of the unit tasked with

tracking Maninder Pal Singh Kohli

.

He has evaded police since his arrival in India on March 18, days after the rape and murder of 17-year-old Hannah Foster in southern England.

Kohli, 35, was last seen on March 28, as he left his brother, policeman Ishtpreet Singh’s Chandigarh home after receiving a late-night telephone call from the UK. He had arrived unexpectedly some nine days earlier, claiming he wished to visit their ailing mother.

“I’m no longer dealing with the case, and was posted out some two weeks ago,” Dinkar Gupta said, following British press reports identifying him as the officer leading the manhunt. “We had been trying to locate the suspect’s whereabouts, and I felt we had been making good progress on various leads.”

The detective inspector confirmed his frustration at red tape that had held up the search. “By the time all the paperwork was completed, the suspect had a big head start. He had a lot of time to plan his moves. I feel confident we should be able to find him, but it’s difficult to say how soon.”

The detective inspector’s replacement comes as British police voiced their frustration at the continuing failure to track the suspect, and issued requests to the Indian authorities for further involvement in the investigation.

Detective inspector Alan Betts of Hampshire police said: “It is frustrating and in an ideal world we would be able to go on a plane and go out there and arrest him. But it is now an Indian police inquiry and we are liaising with them in order to bring about an arrest as soon as possible.”

Betts had flown to Punjab with a team of detectives in April but returned a fortnight later with the suspect still at large.

He confirmed efforts were underway to secure permission for increased British police involvement in the Indian investigation. “We have made a formal application with the Crown Prosecution Service to carry out inquiries in India.”

“A number of inquiries are needed to make sure a full file is available should court proceedings become active. The inquiries are not in connection with tracing the direct whereabouts of the suspect, this is a matter for the Indian police. Hampshire police continue to liaise closely with Indian police and remain committed to assisting the Indian authorities in every possible way,” he said.

Hampshire police have launched a new online appeal with details of the case reported in Punjabi and Hindi, along with closed-circuit television images of Kohli only hours after the Southampton student was found murdered.

The appeal, which can be found at www.hampshire.police.uk/HannahFoster.htm, is accompanied by a Rs 500,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Kohli, one of Britain’s most wanted men.

“The Web is a vital tool in enabling us to reach people all over the world, and, in particular, the subcontinent of India,” Betts said.

Hannah’s body was found in a shallow grave two days before Kohli fled to India, abandoning his wife and two children.

Hannah, described by her parents as a “graceful girl who wanted to help others”, had hoped to qualify as a doctor, and had been accepted to study medicine at Bristol and Cardiff universities.

Hannah murder suspect's father said he won't protect him if guilty

The father of the suspect in the murder case of teenager Hannah Foster says he will not protect his son if he is "guilty."

In an interview with the Times of India, 70-year-old Jagjit Singh said he believes his son Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, is innocent.

Police in Hampshire named him as the main suspect in the murder of 17-year-old Hannah. Her body was found on March 16 dumped in undergrowth in Allington Lane, West End, in the outskirts of Southampton. A post mortem revealed she had been strangled, and police also say she was raped.

His father said: "I believe he is innocent. I don't think he could rape and kill a teenage girl, but if he is guilty, as the police says he is, then I will be the last person to help him."

Three Hampshire detectives are currently in India to trace the 35-year-old Kohli, who fled there four days after Hannah was abducted from close to her home in Portswood, Southampton, on March 14.

The three detectives, led by Detective Superintendent Alan Betts, are due to travel to Kohli's hometown of Chandigarh in the state of Punjab.

Jagjit Singh said his son hasn't contacted him or his brothers after he left the home saying he was being implicated in the case. He didn't say what date Kohli left. "I feel he should join the investigations," Singh said.

Kohli's mother has been in a coma since December 2002 after she fell from a moving bus.

"I feel sorry for my son that he cannot be near his mother in her illness, but in a way I feel that it is better that my wife doesn't know what is happening to her son." added Jagjit Singh.

17 March 2003

who: A-level student Hannah Foster
what: Murdered on five-minute walk home after night out
where: Southampton
when: Friday night
snippet: A walker found Hannah's fully-clothed body in undergrowth about three miles from her home yesterday, reports The Telegraph. "Last night almost 100 officers were working on Operation Springfield, the search for her killer, as girls and young women in the Southampton area were warned not to venture out alone at night."