London: Top British detectives have jetted to India to hunt down a delivery van driver from Punjab accused of murdering a schoolgirl in Southampton in March.

The three-member investigative team led by detective superintendent Alan Betts will be liaising with Interpol, CBI and Punjab police to snare suspect Maninder Singh and take him back to Britain.

The CBI has taken up the case and is trying to locate 35-year-old Singh who fled to India two days after 17-year-old Hannah Foster's body was found in undergrowth near her home in Portswood, Southampton. She had been raped and strangled.

Hampshire police have spent four weeks painstakingly putting together a legally watertight case against Singh.

Betts has taken the dossier of evidence to India to ensure Singh does not wriggle off the hook and escape extradition. The investigative team, that includes a detective and a constable who speaks Punjabi, is expected to be in India for a week.

Police inquiries revealed that Singh caught a flight from Heathrow to India on March 18. A warrant for his arrest was issued by Southampton magistrate on the grounds of murder, kidnap, false imprisonment, rape, manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

Singh fled to India, leaving behind his wife and two children and reportedly took away a substantial sum from their savings.

Hannah, who had been offered a place at medical school, was abducted as she walked home after a night out on March 14.

She had complained to friends she was being stalked by an Asian man.

PTI