Chandigarh, July 28, 2004: Maninderpal Singh Kohli, the prime accused
in the rape and murder of 17-year old British schoolgirl Hannah Claire
Foster, Wednesday "confessed" to the crime to Punjab Police
officials.
Kohli also made the confession before reporters from the NDTV news
channel Wednesday evening.
"Yes, I raped and killed Hannah Foster," Kohli said in an
interview to the channel.
Kohli said he was "quite drunk" when he committed the crime
after pulling the British schoolgirl into his truck close to her home.
"I am fed up of hiding and running and that's why I am confessing,"
Kohli said at Punjab Police headquarters here.
He said he was ready to face trial for his crime in Britain after he
was extradited from India.
Kohli has been in the custody of Punjab Police since Monday, when a
court at Kalimpong in West Bengal allowed them to bring him here to
face a charge of forgery and cheating. Kohli was arrested in West Bengal
July 15 while apparently trying to flee to Nepal.
A team of officials headed by Inspector General of Police Sumedh Singh
Saini was interrogating him.
A local court at Kharar, 15 km from here, had remanded him in Punjab
Police's custody till Aug 5. Inside the court, Kohli seemed to be at
ease with police officials accompanying him.
He remained handcuffed throughout the 20-minute proceeding in the court
and could be seen talking to policemen.
No lawyer was there to defend him, following which the judge sought
help from legal aid cell lawyers.
Kohli told the court he had "full faith" in Punjab Police.
He was accused of obtaining a fake Indian passport to escape from India
after the police turned the heat on him last year.
Incidentally, it was during their stay in Chandigarh, the capital city
of Punjab state from where Kohli hailed, that Hannah's parents - Hilary
and Trevor - got the news that he had been arrested in West Bengal.
The British couple cut short their 10-day trip to India, especially
Punjab, when it was confirmed the man caught was actually Kohli.
Kohli was settled in Southampton with his wife and children when he
committed the crime March 14 last year. He worked as a delivery truck
driver. Kohli fled Britain two days after Hannah's body was found March
16 last year.
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