A push to extradite hit-run driver Puneet Puneet to Australia from India has hit a fresh setback after a new judge hearing the case asked prosecutors to repeat their final arguments.
The decision will prolong even further a trial that began five years ago.
Prosecution lawyers representing Australia have already, over many months, made their final arguments to the New Delhi court and given their written submissions.
The defence had been due conclude its final arguments and give written submissions until Wednesday's decision by a new judge appointed to Patiala House Court.
Justice Navjeet Budhiraja said he wanted to hear firsthand the prosecution's arguments for extraditing Puneet to Australia, a process which will take many months.
Puneet fled to India while on bail in Australia over the 2008 death of Queensland student Dean Hofstee in Melbourne.
He was a 19-year-old learner driver when he killed Hofstee and also seriously injured Clancy Coker in the same crash.
Puneet was arrested five years ago, on his wedding day, and has been facing protracted extradition hearings to determine if he should be sent back to Melbourne.
The prosecution's main contention in the latest brief hearing was a point it has made many times before - that Puneet's lead defence counsel Kanhaiya Kumar Singhal was guilty of delaying tactics.
The lawyers said Singhal had failed to obey an order from the previous judge to hand in his written submission to the court and that the trial had already gone on for far too long.
A fiery Singhal responded that the prosecution lawyer "needed lessons in English and grammar and the law because he doesn't understand anything", in remarks that drew a gentle reprimand from the judge.
Last year previous judge Justice Gurmohina Kaur warned Singhal not to "make a mockery" of the proceedings and said "this has to end".
The fact that a new judge has to come up to speed on the case is the latest delay in a trial that seen a fair amount of drama already.
Puneet has turned up to hearings in the shabby court room, shelves piled high with dusty files tied with string, claiming various medical conditions.
He has appeared with a bandaged head, a surgical mask, in a wheelchair, and has claimed to have multiple illnesses including kidney failure and schizophrenia.
Arguments that he is unfit to be extradited due to mental illness have been contradicted by a panel of doctors.
Puneet's next hearing is set for January 27.
Australian Associated Press
