NEW YORK: The hearing in the extradition case of Ranjit Singh Gill and Sukhminder Singh Sandhu has now been rescheduled for November 15. It was to be held on October 31.
Defense Attorney Ms. Mary Pike told the World Sikh News that the hearing was postponed at the request of the government lawyer Mr. Gibbens because of a scheduling conflict of Mr. Gibbens. The hearing will be held at the U.S. Courthouse in Newark NJ. in the courtroom of Magistrate Ronald J. Hedges at 9 a.m. on November 15.
The Ranjit and Sukhminder case took an alarming twist when it was found that public prosecutor Ms. Judy Russell had forged threatening letters to herself and the magistrate. Because of these letters extraordinary security measurers had been taken by U.S. Marshalls and this had clouded the perception of the people and the media,
‘As the defense attorney Ms. Pike had pointed out in an earlier interview with the World Sikh News this hearing would not be substantive in so far that the magistrate will not rule on whether the two defendants should or should not be extradited.
Gill and Sandhu, it may be recalled, were arrested from a New Jersey Gas station by the F.B.I. on the basis of a note from the Government of India in which it was alleged that they were wanted in India in connection with some criminal activities. Both belong to the AISSF and are important functionaries of the Federation. They had escaped out of India as they had been falsely implicated in A.P. Pandey assault case. They were subsequently exonerated by the Bains commission appointed by the Punjab Government. Still the police refused to drop the case against them.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 11, 1988
