Brisbane: Two years after initially requesting Rajwinder Singh's extradition from India, Australian police in the northeastern city of Cairns charged him with murder. Singh, 38, has denied killing Toyah Cordingley, 24, as she walked her dog along Wangetti Beach north of Cairns in October 2018. He arrived under police escort from New Delhi to Melbourne, Australia. Magistrate Martin Grinberg demanded Singh's extradition from Victoria state to Queensland, the state where Cordingley died, after learning that police had DNA and telephone evidence linking Singh to the murder. Singh travelled 3,000 km north to Cairns in a private jet.
Detective Inspector Sonia Smith of the Queensland Police stated, "We are really relieved to be at this point and we will now commence the court procedure. According to a police statement, Singh was charged with one count of murder and appeared before the Cairns Magistrates Court.
Singh had returned to India from Sydney a day after Cordingley’s body was found and two days after her murder, leaving behind his wife and three children at their home south of Cairns in Innisfail, where he worked as a nurse. A New Delhi court approved Singh’s extradition in late January after he surrendered his appeal rights, which could have tied up the legal process for years. He was arrested in November 2022 on the outskirts of Delhi.