Kohli's wife refuses British reward for info on husband

Bharati Das, the Indian wife of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, the prime accused in the Hannah Foster murder case, has refused to accept a British cash award of around Rs 4 lakh for providing information to help arrest him from Kalimpong.

The Hampshire police team led by Alan Betts had tried time and again to contact her offering the cash reward. However, she refused it outright.

"We refused to talk to them even over phone," her father O B Das told reporters at Siliguri on Sunday.

Bharati said she still hoped that Kohli, arrested by the Hampshire police in 2004 and known to her as Dr Mike Davis, would come out clean in the trial and return to Kalimpong to live with her.

Also see: Delhi court issues summons to Kohli's wife

Hannah, a 17 year-old British girl was killed after being abducted and raped at a Hampshire park on March 10, 2003, allegedly by Kohli.

According to police reports, Kohli, after commiting the crime, returned to India. He stayed in Darjeeling as Rohan Mehta for 40 days and then shifted to Kalimpong where, introducing himself as Dr Mike Davis, he married Bharati. He had said that he was involved in social work.     

Meanwhile, Betts, who reportedly returned to Delhi with his three-member team on Sunday, had earlier told reporters that 12 people were given cash rewards for providing information to the British police.