A man suspected of murdering a woman found dead on a remote Queensland beach has been extradited from India to Australia.
Rajvendra Singh arrived at the Melbourne airport on Wednesday after flying from Delhi with the spies.
He is accused of murdering 24-year-old Toya Cordingley in 2018, in what has been described as a “frenzied and brutal” attack.
JEE News understands Mr Singh will appear in court in Melbourne before being extradited to Queensland state.
He will then face a magistrate in Brisbane – possibly later this week – before being remanded in custody.
Mr Singh was arrested in Delhi in November last year, after the Queensland state government offered a reward of A$1m (£555,000; $672,000) for information about the murder.
Indian police handed him over to Australian officers at Delhi’s international airport on Tuesday night local time.
Originally from Battar Kalan in the Indian state of Punjab, Mr Singh was living in Innisfail, a town about two hours from the scene of the murder, at the time of the murder.
Police allege the 38-year-old fled Australia within hours of the murder – and stayed in Punjab for four years to avoid arrest. He was detained by Indian officers who received information that Mr. Singh was on his way to the Indian capital for a medical appointment.
Detectives have released few details about how Ms Cordingley died.
On October 21, 2018, she went to Wangati Beach, between the popular tourist destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas, to walk her dog, but never came home.
Her body was discovered the next day by her father, half-buried in the sand dunes.
The A$1m prize is the largest ever offered in Queensland. When it was announced last year, Toya’s father, Troy Cordingly, said his daughter was “a young woman who will never have the chance to live a full life and it was all taken away from her”.
At the time of Mr Singh’s arrest, Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan said the development was “a long time coming” and was the “next step in bringing justice to Toya”.
