CBI arrests Indian national for Kuwait murders
He is accused of killing his employer and his wife, who allegedly withheld his passport
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked an Indian national accused of killing his employer and his wife in Kuwait. The victims had allegedly withheld his passport to prevent him from leaving them.
The case has been registered on a reference from the Ministry of External Affairs in December 2016, following a request from the authorities in Kuwait to extradite the accused, Santosh Kumar Rana.
The accused has been sentenced to death by the State of Kuwait Court of First Instance Felonies in a judgment given in absentia on February 29, 2012. It is alleged that he murdered Fahad Ben Nasser Ibrahim and his wife Salama Faraj Salem, for whom he worked as a servant.
“As per the allegation, the victims were holding the accused person’s passport to prevent his leaving them and also forced him to undergo circumcision surgery against his religious belief. After the murder, he is alleged to have retrieved his passport by ‘intentionally’ destroying the safe owned by the victims….,” said the FIR.
Under Article 5 of the extradition treaty between the two countries, nationals of either country will not be extradited. However, the accused will be subjected to local prosecution for the said offence.
“The local prosecution of the accused shall take place primarily on the basis of the evidence/documents submitted along with the request, or subsequently submitted by the requesting State. All evidence that may be needed for prosecution of the present case could be submitted by the Kuwaiti authorities only,” the FIR said.
