Puneet Puneet, a former Indian international student in Melbourne who fled to India in 2009 while he was on bail in a hit-and-run case has told a court in India that it would be illegal to extradite him back to Melbourne.
Puneet was allegedly drunk when the car he was driving crashed into two pedestrians, both students from Queensland. The crash killed a 19-year-old student Dean Hofstee and injured another friend 20-year-old Clancy Coker on that fatal night in October 2008.
Puneet awaited sentencing for culpable driving causing death and negligently causing injury, when he used a friend’s passport and fled to India in 2009. He remained in hiding in India before he was arrested by the Indian police in Patiala district in 2013.
He is now fighting extradition proceedings in a court in Delhi in India where on Tuesday he told the court that the crash happened before Australia and India signed the extradition treaty.
Puneet Puneet Source: Herald Sun
Puneet’s lawyer, Kanhaiya Kumar Singal, said the procedure against his client was illegal.
“Extradition arrangements between two countries were signed in 2011,” he said.
Puneet was present in court to challenge his extradition procedure.
The Australian Federal Police has been fighting this case and the lawyer representing Australia on behalf of the Indian Government, Wali Bhaskar told the , that Puneet’s argument was “frivolous”and that the court will decide whether Puneet will be extradited or not.
The next hearing is scheduled before Magistrate Jyoti Kyler on January 23.
