A man sentenced to 28 years in prison for murder in the United Kingdom in 2020 has been transferred to Gujarat to complete his sentence under an extradition agreement between India and the UK.
Jigu Sorthi, a resident of Umargam, was sentenced to 28 years of jail time by a Leicester court for the murder of his fiancée, Bhavini Pravin. He will now serve his sentence at Surat’s Lajpore Jail, marking the first such extradition under the treaty between India and UK.
He went to England on a spouse visa in August 2018 and had planned to marry Bhavini in a Hindu wedding ceremony. In 2020, while living with his fiancée in Leicester, frequent arguments led Bhavini to call off their wedding.
In a fit of rage, Sorthi stabbed her multiple times, resulting in her death. After committing the crime, he surrendered to the police and confessed to the murder.
Sorthi had served four years in a British prison, so his family appealed to the Indian government for his extradition so he could serve the remainder of his sentence in India. Following extensive coordination between the two countries, the request was approved.
On December 16, British officials escorted Sorthi from Britain to Delhi. Upon arrival in Delhi, Indian and British officials completed the paperwork to transfer him to Indian custody.
A special team from Surat police then transported him to Lajpore Jail.
Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlot confirmed the transfer, stating that it had been carried out under the extradition treaty between India and the UK. He also confirmed that Sorthi would serve the rest of his life sentence in Surat, as ordered by the Indian government.
