New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday registered a case against an Indian national for allegedly murdering a person in Abu Dhabi, UAE, whom he owed 300 Emirati Dirham (Rs 5,827).
This is the first time that an Indian national who committed a crime in Abu Dhabi will be locally prosecuted by the CBI under IPC Section 302 (murder). He will soon be called in for questioning and tried in an Indian court.
The case was registered against the accused, Indre Jeet Singh, by the CBI on the request of the UAE authorities under the Extradition Treaty between the two countries.
According to a source in the CBI, Article 5 of the Treaty prohibits extradition of own nationals by requested State, subject to the condition that the requested State will prosecute the accused person under its own law.
This means that Singh does not have to be sent to the UAE for trial in the case and can be prosecuted in India for the crime he committed there.
“Since the act of murder is an offence inviting punishment of more than a year’s imprisonment in both India and UAE, it makes it an extraditable offence as per the Treaty,” the source said.
The letter requesting local prosecution of Singh was written to the Assistant Director of the International Police Cooperation Unit of the CBI by K.A. Georgekutty, who is a consultant (extradition) in the MEA in 2016. The extradition formalities, however, took a long time to get completed and a fresh case against Singh was registered by the CBI only now.
This also means that the police in Abu Dhabi will now be formally sending the entire case file, including details of the forensic, circumstantial evidence, recoveries made, statements recorded, photographs on record, to the CBI for further action.
The CBI will then go through the entire evidence and also summon Singh for interrogation. A charge-sheet in the case will also be filed in the CBI court, where the trial will then begin.
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The murder
According to the FIR by the CBI, on 28 August 2008 at 6 am, a farm worker in the UAE spotted a body of an “Asian male” of unknown identity and informed his employer.
“The owner of the farm informed the police and the investigation was taken up,” the FIR, quoting the letter from UAE authorities, says.
During investigation, the police in the UAE found that the victim, identified as Rama Lengaw Natesan, sold international prepaid sim cards (known as Etisalat in the UAE) and that Singh owed him money.
“After questioning workers at the farm, the police there established a link between Natesan and Singh. When the police went after Singh, they found that he had been absent from his workplace. He was also not at his residence,” a police officer said.
When the police traced the phone of the victim, it was found that Singh had been using Natesan’s number.
“It was found that Singh made calls to one Balwender Singh from Natesan’s number,” the officer added.
According to the FIR, Balwender Singh was traced by the UAE police. Balwender then told the police that Singh had confessed to him about killing someone as he was in need of money.
“The investigation by the police in UAE further revealed that there was a dispute between Natesan and Singh because the latter owed him 300 Emirati Dirham,” a CBI officer said.
According to the FIR, on 28 August, Singh got drunk and stabbed the victim and killed him.
“The forensic medicine report also concluded that all the injuries happened at the time of death and the accused dragged the victim after the murder from the place he committed the crime to the farm and dumped his body there,” the FIR stated.
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