Updated:

July 16, 2004

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, now clean shaven, was arrested after residents identified him from photos flashed in newspapers and on television channels.

Police initially believed that Kohli and his Nepalese wife Bharati Das (they had married just 23 days back) were trying to reach Sikkim. On Thursday morning, they raided a house at Pradhan Nagar in Siliguri after hearing that a man of his description had been seen there. But Kohli had slipped away moments before.

After zeroing in on Bharati's relatives at Panighata, the police tracked him down at the bus stand. After his arrest Kohli insisted he was 'Mike Denis'.

Police said that after slipping out of his Patiala house on March 20 last year, Kohli had been to Mysore, Bangalore and Chennai before coming to Darjeeling five months ago. Posing as an NRI, he had married Bharati, who was not aware of Kohli's antecedents. However, he had aroused the locals' suspicion while attending several Hepatitis-B eradication camps with Bharati .

NRI Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, the prime suspect in the murder
of British student Hannah Foster, has been arrested.

Kolkata, July 15, 2004
Munish Gupta

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, prime accused in the rape and murder of a British teenager, arrested in West Bengal on Thursday. He has denied committing the crime but police said he had admitted that he pulled the victim's body from his car boot and disposed of it. He said he was at the place of the crime. He was charged with the rape and murder of Hannah Claire Foster in Southampton, Britain, in March 2003

Hannah Claire Foster, a 17-year-old student, was abducted from near her home in Portswood, Southampton in the United Kingdom, after a night out with friends on March 14 last year. Her body was found two days later and a post mortem examination found she had been raped and strangled. Police in Britain identified Kohli as the prime suspect and said he fled to India after the crime.

Police officials said Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was arrested in Panighata village of Darjeeling district on the India-Nepal border. He was known as David and married a Nepali woman in Kurseong town about 10 days ago.

"He told local community that he likes to settle in the Darjeeling hills. No body knows his back ground. He also lived in Darjeeling and Kalimpong towns over the past four months. He was staying with a relative of his wife in Panighata and was possibly planning to escape to Nepal," Police officer said.

British couple Hilary and Trevor Foster (parents of Hannah Claire Foster) were staying at Hotel Mountview, Chadigarh when they received the news from TV about the arrest of Kohli. This was the third day of their visit to India to appeal for the arrest of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli.

Parents of Hannah Claire Foster thanked the Indian public, police and media for the investigations and publicity that led to Kohli's arrest. Hilary silently sat beside Trevor at the hurriedly called news conference, holding his arm throughout. The Fosters did not answer any questions from Indian and foreign media after Trevor read out his statement.

Detective Morag Scott, one of two Hampshire Police detectives accompanying the Fosters, said: "We are cautiously optimistic. My colleague Detective Superintendent Alan Betts is travelling to Darjeeling to liase with the police there to confirm today's developments."

UK police will try and extradite Kohli, who is a British citizen, back to the United Kingdom after which the legal proceedings will start. The Forters and the British police are expected to travel to West Bengal to meet with Kholi.

Hannah's father, Trevor Foster          Hannah's mother, Hilary Foster

Trevor Foster, 53, said: "We as a family are devastated by the loss of Hannah.

"My wife and I have lost our beautiful daughter and Hannah's 14-year-old sister Sarah has lost her big sister and friend.

"Hannah was a warm, kind-hearted 17-year-old girl who could always see good in others."

"Hannah was always a very happy person, one of those sort of children with a ready smile.

"She's just the sort of girl that you just always felt very proud of."

Mr Foster said, "She was always very protective, that's the one thing that struck me how protective she was to her younger sister.

"If ever I was telling Sarah off she'd always try and pacify me or take the blame."