The government has told a Delhi court that there was "credible evidence" against NRI fugitive Avtar Singh Grewal to show his involvement in the killing of his wife in the US, from where the Indian authorities have received a request for his extradition.
The court was informed about Grewal's hand in his wife's killing in Phoenix by M R Qureshi, under secretary with the Ministry of External Affairs, during a hearing on his extradition.
"It is incorrect to suggest that there is no material to suggest that the fugitive/criminal is connected with the crime for which the extradition is being sought," Qureshi told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A K Kuhar.
Recording his testimony as the first prosecution witness in the extradition proceeding, the MEA official rubbished Grewal's allegations that extradition proceedings have been initiated in a "mechanical" manner without examining the evidentiary value of documents provided by the US.
Grewal, 32, was arrested by the CBI on arrival at IGI Airport in New Delhi on March 31, last year following a 'look-out circular' issued against him by the Interpol on the request of the FBI.
The fugitive, who was then working as manager with a firm in Vancouver in Canada, allegedly travelled to Phoenix in USA to meet his estranged wife Navneet Kaur and flew out of that country on a one-way ticket after killing her on March 29.
Kaur, the eldest daughter of an Uttranchal cadre retired IPS officer Ratan Singh, was allegedly not on good terms with Grewal after their marriage in October 2005. They were allegedly living separately.
