Mumbai man, arrested for murder on basis of mistaken identity, recalls ordeal

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 14 (ANI): A Mumbai man was arrested on the basis of a British extradition request and an Interpol alert by Mumbai Police in 2015 in connection with murdering a woman in Glasgow in 1997. The arrest turned out to be a case of mistaken identity after a Chinese man confessed to the crime. Now the man Sougat Mukherjee is a free man but continues to be haunted by the trauma.
"Sougat Mukherjee's arrest was an unfortunate thing. The incident took place in 1997 when he was studying at Glasgow University and had to return to India for some medical reason. At that time, a woman named Tracy Wylde was murdered. The Scotland Yard was investigating this case for 18 years and didn't get any lead," Mukherjee's lawyer Hiten Jain told ANI.
"In 2015, police arrested Sougat Mukherjee as a suspect in the case. The arrest was solely on the ground that the suspect had protruding teeth and Sougat Mukherjee had protruding teeth. Merely on that basis, they concluded that he is a possible suspect and they started the extradition proceedings against him," Jain said.
In 2015, the British authorities sent the letter of extradition to the government authorities in India, Jain said.
"Around April 2015, he was arrested by police on the request of the Interpol. He was released on bail immediately because we had challenged the procedure of the extradition and also, we had challenged on the ground that no formal request of extradition was made by the English authorities. Having said that, after the bail, he was required to cooperate in the investigation, he was required to visit police station every week," Jain added.
The lawyer said that Mukherjee was acquitted of all charges after "it was found that the murder was done by a Chinese man, who confessed the crime and was convicted."
Jain said the legal options are open for Mukherjee to seek compensation in this matter.
"Mukherjee was arrested on the basis of mistaken identity," the lawyer said. (ANI)