The new Australian administration has been in touch with Indian authorities regarding the extradition of Puneet Puneet, a man who admitted to killing a Melbourne teen while driving too fast but left the country before being sentenced.
According to reports, Puneet was granted bail in India despite the fact that prosecutors considered him a flight risk.
Puneet acknowledged that he killed student Dean Hofstee and seriously hurt his companion Clancy Coker while operating a vehicle at 150 km/h with a blood alcohol level of 0.165.
While awaiting punishment in Australia in 2009, he escaped to India using a friend’s passport.
Four years later, on the day of his wedding, Puneet was taken into custody. Since that time, a number of extradition hearings have been held in a New Delhi court.
He later vanished, reappeared in the middle of 2020, and was apprehended in September 2021.
According to many media reports, the 33-year-old successfully argued that he was the only person competent to care for his mother who had a lung condition in order to win a bail request earlier this month.
Bill Shorten, a cabinet minister, stated on Tuesday that the Australian government was still attempting to get Puneet extradited.
He told the Nine Network, “He should return here and face justice.”
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said that New Delhi had been helpful in pursuing the matter, and Mr. Shorten continued by expressing his gratitude to the Indian government for supporting Australia’s extradition request.
‘The only way an extradition matter can succeed is through the Indian authorities pursuing it – they are pursuing it,’ he said.
‘I distinguish the courts from the Indian government. It was the High Court in Delhi that gave him bail, that’s different to the government.
‘I’m grateful that the Indian government is backing us in this matter. I think the Indian government’s got its teeth into this issue.’
Mr Shorten added he felt no sympathy for Puneet, who has argued he would be discriminated against in Australia.
‘The jail is full of people who feel they’ve been discriminated again, it’s called justice,’ he said.
Puneet is due back in court on October 17.