India begins Ravi Shankaran’s extradition process

The extradition process of Ravi Shankaran,a key accused in the infamous Naval War Room leak case,has begun.

The extradition process of Ravi Shankaran,a key accused in the infamous Naval War Room leak case,has begun here with the accused confined to his make-shift residence after being granted bail by a court.

“Ravi Shankaran appeared in the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 22 on an International arrest warrant and basically remains in custody and currently on court bail,” a spokeswoman of Metropolitan Police said.

According to the British law,court bail is a process under which an accused is confined to his residence with a police guard being posted outside and is not allowed to meet with anyone.

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However,the date for extradition hearing of Shankaran is yet to be decided,the spokeswoman said.

CBI Director Ashwani Kumar had said yesterday that the agency had “moved for his (Shankaran’s) early extradition”.

46-year-old Shankaran,a relative of the former Naval Chief Admiral Arun Prakash,was declared a proclaimed offender by a Delhi court four years ago and had a Interpol notice issued against him in 2006.

Shankaran is accused of passing vital security information to arms dealers.

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In order to arrest Ravi Shankaran,Look Out notice against him was issued to all Immigration Check Posts in India on April 10,2006. Thereafter,non bailable warrant was issued by the trial Court in India on April 21,2006.

Since he had already fled the country,request for issuing Red Corner Notice was made in April 2006 by CBI and accordingly it was issued by Interpol.

Shankaran’s passport was also revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs on May 1,2006.

Arrest warrants against Shankaran were issued by UK court on March 30,2007 on the basis of provisional arrest request made by CBI.

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Formal extradition request was forwarded to Indian High Commission here on May 9,2007. Requests were also sent to France,Spain,Sweden and other countries for the arrest of Shankaran.

Besides Shankaran,two retired Lieutenants and two ex-commanders of the Navy,and an ex-Wing Commander of the Indian Air force were also co-accused in the case.