New Delhi: An absconding murder convict with an Interpol Red Notice, Narender Singh, who fled India after being acquitted by a trial court, was extradited from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Friday and sent to judicial custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has coordinated the return of Singh through Interpol channels.
The CBI obtained a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Singh from Interpol on 7 November last year based on an FIR filed by the Haryana Police on 26 December 1994. Singh had allegedly hacked to death one Swaran Singh using a machete.
The FIR, registered at Tohana police station, which was then in Hisar district and now falls in Fatehabad, charged Singh and six others under sections 302 (murder), 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 328 (causing hurt using poison), and 34 (offences committed with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Sources in Fatehabad district police told ThePrint that district police moved an application with the CBI around 18 months ago and obtained RCN on 7 November, 2023.
Meanwhile, a CBI spokesperson Friday told mediapersons that the officers geo-located Singh in the UAE and teams comprising officials from Fatehabad district and Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana police brought him back Friday.
Discussing the repatriation of Singh from the UAE, the spokesperson added that the agency was able to repatriate 29 wanted criminals by Indian law enforcement agencies while securing 100 RCNs last year.
Also Read: ED makes 9th arrest in probe against betting app Mahadev Online Book
Acquitted, convicted but fled India
Investigating officers in Haryana police, who prepared documents to obtain RCN against Singh, told ThePrint that state police had moved an application for the RCN over 18 months ago and prepared documents related to the offence he was convicted of in Arabic language.
“We were informed that his return was approved by the competent authority on 1 February and today (Friday), he was brought back in the state and sent to judicial custody,” a police officer privy to the developments told ThePrint.
The officer added that Singh along with his six accomplices in the offence were acquitted four years after the crime took place in 1998 but the Haryana government challenged the decision in the state’s high court.
The high court ordered life sentences for him and his accomplices in 2009 but Singh had fled India by then, leaving the state police with only the RCN option to bring him back.
“All other accused in the case are serving their life sentence and now Singh is back to serve his term,” the officer told ThePrint.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
Also Read: Arrested ex-Delhi Jal Board official passed bribe money to AAP as ‘election funds’, says ED