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Court allows extradition of NRI fugitive to US

New Delhi, July 15, 2011: The Delhi High Court Friday paved the way for non-resident Indian (NRI) fugitive Avtar Singh Grewal's extradition to the US to face trial for allegedly killing his estranged wife in 2007.

The court dismissed his petition challenging a trial court's decision to allow his extradition.
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Magistrate to pronounce its judgement on September 30 on the extradition of Grewal

New Delhi, Sep. 13, 2009
Surinder Singh

NRI Avtar Grewal, who flew to Arizona from Canada to kill his wife Navneet, arrested at New Delhi airport in 2007- now extradition order are reserved by court

Ajay Kumar Pandey, an additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate will pronounce its judgement for extradition of Grewal to US on Sep. 30.

Grewal is now arguing that his extradition to Arizona for first-degree murder is illegal. He also argue that no formal request has been made by Arizona or Maricopa County.

Arizona documents show that Navneet was planning to discuss divorce with Grewal, who lived in Vancouver, Canada, when she picked him up at Sky Harbor International Airport on March 29, 2007.

According to evidence found at her home, the couple quarreled and Grewal strangled his wife, leaving her face-down in a downstairs bathtub before attempting to commit suicide

NRI Grewal challenged the process for his extradition to US,
allegedly accused of murdering his wife

New Delhi, Oct. 01, 2008
Surinder Singh

NRI Avtar Grewal of BC, Canada resident, who flew to Arizona from Canada to kill his wife Navneet, arrested at New Delhi airport, India, has challenged the process for his extradition, claiming it lacked the mandatory sanction from the authorities in that country.

Avtar's lawyer V K Ohri and Akshay Malik said:

• The Governor of Arizona, Phoenix had never requested for the extradition of the fugitive criminal which is in violation of the Criminal Procedure Code of the US.
• There was no reason for the fugitive to kill his wife Navneet Kaur as he had cordial relations with her.
• It alleged that according to the confessional note of Grewal, admitting the crime was obtained forcefully in India at the instance of Ratan Singh, the father of the deceased by illegally detaining him.... her father was a retired IPS officer
• There are flaws in the autopsy report, we claimed that the extradition documents did not contain any specific reasons for the victim's death.
• Navneet Kaur allegedly wanted to seek a divorce from Grewal, who was allegedly adamant, and had gone to meet her from Canada.

Avtar is in Tihar jail since his arrest on March 31, 2007. New date was fixed on October 6 for Ministry of External Affairs to reply

India may extradite Grewal to US, accused of murdering his wife

New Delhi, June 10, 2008
Surinder Singh

NRI Avtar Grewal will be extrdite soon to US from India for murdering his wife in 2007 at Phoenix City according to Ministry of External Affair's spokesperson. They already told the court that there are enough evidence against Grewal

Ministry of External Affair's (MEA) under secretary, M R Qureshi told the court: "It is incorrect to suggest that there is no material to suggest that the fugitive is connected with the crime for which the extradition is being sought."

Avtar Grewal claimed that extradition proceedings had been initiated in a "mechanical" manner without examining the value as evidence of documents provided by the US.

The United States authorities have already requested to the Indian government for the extradition of Avtar Singh Grewal after his arrest in New Delhi in April, 2007.

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• Phoenix, April 10, 2007:
  US police want to extradite Avtar Grewal
  
  The official of Maricopa County, Arizona said, "Our police want to extradite Avtar Grewal of BC, Canada resident who flew to Arizona from Canada to kill his wife Navneet and he was arrested at New Delhi airport, India."
  
  It is also confirmed that it may take 40-60 days to file extradition documents because there are numerous international bodies involved. The United States is one of only a few countries that uses the death penalty, extradition processes can take even longer to bargain with a country that refuses to extradite if prosecution wishes to seek capital punishment.
  
  There is a unofficial report that Avtar and Navneet were planning to come to India together but before leaving they had a fight, which led to Avtar Grewal killing his wife. Avtar claims that his wife kicked and slapped him and in a fit of anger he strangulated her. He also says that he felt sorry and left a note saying that he has killed his wife. After killing her, he claims to have tried to commit suicide by slashing his wrist and then trying to hang himself from the ceiling.

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• Phoenix, April 03, 2007:

  An autopsy is underway and Medical examiner officials said Tuesday that Navneet Kaur, 30, could have been killed by "a multitude of instances," but the case remains open and authorities won't yet say specifically what killed her. Detectives found evidence related to Grewal and the slaying inside the home and signs that Grewal was suicidal, police said

  Sandeep Singh, Navneet's younger brother, was the only family member to speak to his sister on the morning of March 29, when she called from Phoenix - just a few hours before she was reportedly killed, the Times of India reported. Singh described Grewal as a man with an inferiority complex who was very possessive about Navneet.

• "On March 29, Navneet told me that Avtar was coming to see her," Singh told the Times. "When we could not reach her over the phone at night, we asked our relatives in USA to contact her. When one of our relatives spoke to Avtar, he reportedly said that he was in Las Vegas with my sister, enjoying the weekend. He also asked our relatives to not disturb the couple."
• "He put many restrictions on my sister Navneet and used to keep her confined. A few months back, she wanted to attend our cousin's marriage and asked him to accompany her but he said he would not go and did not let her attend the wedding either," Sandeep added.
• Ratan Singh, an IPS officer of UT cadre who retired in 2005 as Superintendent of Police (Andaman & Nicobar). He had also served as a DCP in Delhi. Singh, Ratan lives in Gurgaon and has flown to the US to claim the body of her daughter.
  

• New Delhi, April 02, 2007: Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kamini Lau sent NRI Avtar Grewal for psychiatric check up because he had tried to commit suicide after killing his wife.
• The city court sent him for seven days judicial custody

Vancouver NRI murdered his wife at US & arrested at New Delhi airport

New Delhi, April 02, 2007
Surinder Singh

NRI Avtar Grewal, 32, killed his estranged wife, Navneet Kaur, 30, in the Ahwatukee Foothills, Phoenix, USA on Thursday. Avtar was arrested when he landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on Saturday.

According to the Arizona police, Navneet lived alone in the 4200 block of East Redwood Lane, near 40th Street and Pecos Road. After two years of marriage, she was seeking a divorce from Avtar, the two had split, and he was living in Vancouver.

On Friday morning, when Navneet didn't show up for work, her co-workers went to her house to check on her and found blood and signs of a struggle. Police say Grewal was last seen outside his wife’s home around 10:30 pm on Thursday

The Arizona Police also confirmed that Avtar flew out of Phoenix to Newark, N.J. on a one-way ticket, purchased a one-way ticket to India. On Friday, Detectives learned that he was on the flight to India.

The father of Navneet, a retired police officer who lives in neighboring Gurgaon, told the news media that Avtar wanted Navneet to quit her job and live with him. But she wanted to stay on and obtain U.S. citizenship. This allegedly led to frequent altercations between them.

Avtar, who has a MBA degree and was working as manager with Starbox in Vancouver. He belongs to Punjab and comes from an influential background.

The Phoenix police and international authorities are working with authorities in India to seek his extradition.