India resumes extradition to US after 17 years, sends Indian citizen wanted in fatal car crash case

New York, Sep 30 (IANS) India has resumed extraditions to the US after a 17-year hiatus, sending over an Indian citizen wanted in the US on criminal charges, according to officials.

Ganesh Shenoy, 54, who fled to India after a crash that killed a 44-year-old man 20 years ago, was taken into custody by the US Marshals Service in Mumbai and brought here on Thursday, the Nassau County prosecutor's office said on Monday.

“After decades of evading law enforcement and dodging prosecution, my office finally returned this defendant to the United States to answer for the tragic death of a husband and father of two more than 20 years ago”, the prosecutor, Anne Donnelly, said.

He was produced on Friday before a judge who ordered him held without bail, she said.

The crash happened early morning in April 2005 in the New York City suburb of Hicksville when the victim, Philip Mastropolo, was driving to work, she said.

Donnelly said that Shenoy, who was allegedly driving at twice the speed limit, ran a red light and hit Mastropolo’s car with such force that it skidded about 20 metres and crashed into a truck.

Mastropolo died on the spot.

Shenoy was taken to a hospital but refused medical treatment.

Although his Indian passport was confiscated, he managed to escape to India, flying from New York to Mumbai 14 days later, her office said.

He was charged in Nassau County with second-degree manslaughter in August 2005, and an Interpol Red Notice was issued, according to her office.

The second-degree manslaughter charge Shenoy faces under New York law is the equivalent of the offence in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita of committing a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide.

India and the US signed an extradition treaty in 1997.

The treaty provides for the extradition of anyone committing a criminal offence that is covered by the laws of both countries and carries an imprisonment of more than a year.

A second-degree manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 15 years under New York law.

--IANS

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