Singh is also wanted in connection with a serious sexual attack
Rape suspect Raminder Singh is fighting extradition from India to Scotland so he can care for his mother.
Singh was put on Interpol’s most-wanted list in 2012 when he fled to India in July, the day after he allegedly raped a woman and beat her unconscious in Edinburgh.
The 23-year-old victim was found unconscious in Pilrig Park in a pool of blood with a broken jaw, cheekbone and tooth.
Court documents show that Singh’s lawyers claimed that the “relationship was consensual”.
Singh is also wanted in connection with a serious sexual attack and rape of a 27-year-old woman the previous week.
He was arrested in Delhi in April 2015 after an international arrest warrant was issued.
He has been in custody ever since and although his extradition was granted in November 2017, his defence has been fighting the order in Delhi’s high court.
Singh’s counsel, Vikas Padora, requested that he be given three months’ interim bail so he could be with his elderly mother who lives alone in Punjab.
However, Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar dismissed Singh’s interim bail application. They were on the grounds that it was a serious sexual offence.
To prevent overcrowding of prisons and ensure social distancing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, India has been releasing some prisoners yet to face trial but not those charged with serious sexual offences or terrorism offences.
Singh was originally from Punjab but moved to Edinburgh in 2009 on a student visa to study a diploma in hospitality.
He then got a job as a bouncer in a gay nightclub.
Singh returned to India where he ran a restaurant in Jalandhar.
Ravindra Yadav, police commissioner, said:
“Acting on a tip, police nabbed Raminder Singh from Alipur in west Delhi, when he reached there from Punjab to meet one of his acquaintances.”
At a bail hearing, Singh’s lawyers also claimed the alleged sexual offences are not covered by the extradition treaty between India and the UK.
However, prosecutors claim strict proof of evidence in extradition proceedings is not legally required for it to go ahead.
Bail was refused in 2015 on the grounds that the alleged crimes were too serious for the rape suspect to be at liberty while the extradition process was being considered by the courts in India.
The Crown Office said it could not comment due to the ongoing extradition proceedings.
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