New Delhi: The Delhi High Court stayed a lower court order on Monday recommending extradition to Britain of a migrant Indian lorry driver suspected of raping and killing a British teenager in 2003.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, a Sikh driver wanted for questioning by British police, has been in custody in India since his arrested three years ago from a village close to the Nepal border. He is believed to have fled the UK after the body of 17-year-old Hannah Foster was found in undergrowth on the outskirts of Southampton in March 2003.

The stay will operate till the High Court decides whether Kohli's extradition is valid under Indian law. Kohli has challenged the validity of the June 8 extradition order on the grounds there was no direct evidence connecting him to the crime. "The other evidence used to link him with the murder, DNA samples and the route taken by him to flee Britain, have not been satisfactorily explained," Kohli's lawyer Charanjeet Singh Bakshi said.

He also contested the power of a lower court to examine the merits of the case. The High Court issued a notice to the Indian government seeking its views on Kohli's appeal. It will hear the matter again on July 6.