Sajeer Palli Mooppam: Extradited from UAE to India, says CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Sajeer Palli Mooppam, wanted in a sexual assault case registered by Delhi Police, was extradited from the United Arab Emirates to India on 4 November 2026. UAE authorities handed him over to a Delhi Police escort team, which brought him to New Delhi the same day, according to the agency’s statement.

The CBI said it coordinated the extradition with the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi Police. Its statement records the completion of the transfer after legal proceedings in the UAE, rather than the submission of a request for his return.

A chargesheet has already been filed before the competent court in the Delhi case, the CBI said. The agency’s account describes allegations against Mooppam and the investigation supporting them; it does not report a conviction.

Delhi case and the allegations

According to the CBI, investigators alleged that Mooppam and an accomplice administered an intoxicating substance to a woman, leaving her incapacitated. The agency alleged that Mooppam subsequently took her to a hotel and used another person’s identity credentials to check in and avoid detection.

The CBI alleged that he sexually assaulted the woman and said subsequent medical and forensic reports corroborated the allegation. That description of the evidence comes from the investigating agency’s statement, which does not reproduce the reports or set out a court’s assessment of them.

The statement does not identify the court handling the chargesheet, specify the statutory provisions invoked or give the date of the alleged offence. It also does not include a response from Mooppam or his legal representative.

From an Interpol notice to the UAE handover

The CBI said Delhi Police requested its assistance in obtaining a Red Notice through Interpol channels. UAE authorities subsequently located and arrested Mooppam at the request of NCB-New Delhi, India’s National Central Bureau for Interpol.

The CBI serves as that bureau. In its statement, the agency said it coordinates with Indian law enforcement agencies through BHARATPOL to facilitate assistance using Interpol channels.

The account distinguishes the international police cooperation used to locate and arrest Mooppam from the legal process preceding his extradition. According to the CBI, UAE authorities completed that process before handing him over to the Delhi Police team that travelled to the country.

The statement does not give the dates on which the Red Notice was published, Mooppam was arrested or the extradition was approved. It therefore establishes the date of his return, but not how long each preceding stage took.

How extradition requests are handled

Guidance published by the Embassy of India in Qatar describes extradition as the delivery of a person by one state to another to face proceedings for an alleged crime or deal with a conviction. The guidance identifies the Extradition Act, 1962 as India’s legislative framework for the process.

The embassy explains that an extradition request can concern a case still under investigation, a person facing trial or someone already convicted. A completed extradition therefore does not, by itself, establish guilt. The guidance distinguishes the examination required for extradition from the trial court’s role in deciding whether the allegations are proved.

According to the embassy, the Ministry of External Affairs is the authority that formally submits India’s extradition requests to foreign states through diplomatic channels. Its Consular, Passport and Visa Division administers the Act and processes incoming and outgoing requests. Members of the public cannot make an extradition request themselves.

That diplomatic function is distinct from the police coordination described in the CBI’s account of Mooppam’s return. The CBI statement names the ministries and police agencies involved but does not reproduce the formal request, identify the UAE decision-making authority or describe its reasoning.

The embassy’s guidance also explains that, in urgent cases, India may seek a person’s provisional arrest while a formal extradition request is being prepared. Such a request can be transmitted through diplomatic channels, while Interpol facilities may also be used through the CBI.

Provisional arrest and extradition are separate steps in that general procedure. The CBI statement does not identify Mooppam’s arrest as a provisional arrest, so the embassy’s explanation cannot establish which specific legal route UAE authorities used in his case.

What the agency’s figures cover

The CBI placed the return within its wider international cooperation work, saying more than 278 wanted persons had been brought back to India since 2019 through coordination with foreign law enforcement agencies. The statement does not break that total down by country or distinguish extraditions from other forms of return.

For the Delhi prosecution, the CBI’s statement records a filed chargesheet and Mooppam’s arrival in India. It does not provide a post-return court order, describe his subsequent custody status or identify the next hearing date.