Killer hit-run driver Puneet Puneet on domestic violence charges

Killer hit-run driver Puneet Puneet is facing domestic violence charges — a legal twist which puts his return to Australia to face justice further in doubt.

Killer hit-run driver turned fugitive Puneet Puneet has won a major legal battle in India that means he is unlikely to be deported to face justice in Australia for years.

Puneet killed teenage student Dean Hofstee in Melbourne in 2008 and has been on the run from police since fleeing the country on a co-worker’s passport in 2009.

He was eventually tracked down and rearrested in 2013 and there have been more than 120 court appearances since – including one in 2021 where Delhi’s Patiala House court ordered Puneet be deported to Victoria.

But late last week, it was ruled he would not be extradited until a decision was made on domestic violence charges made against him by his wife Palka Shama.

Puneet Puneet has launched a High Court appeal against his deportation.

A legal expert told the Herald Sun domestic violence cases in India typically last four to six years if an out-of-court settlement cannot be reached between the parties.

Ms Shama made the allegations in March last year.

“Puneet won’t be deported to a foreign country till a decision on his domestic violence case will be taken,” Judge Jasmeet Singh said in New Delhi.

It is understood Ms Shama alleges cruelty and unlawful demand of property by Puneet and his family.

The maximum sentence is three years in prison and or a fine.

India’s government official, who is fighting for the extradition on behalf of Australian authorities, told the court he “understands the backlog of cases and will honour the court decision.”

Puneet is on bail for both the extradition and domestic violence cases.

The deportation order – being heard at India’s High Court – is now on hold indefinitely.

Gold Coast university student Dean Hofstee, 19, was killed in 2008 by Puneet.

Puneet’s lawyer, Kanhaiya Singhal, said outside court: “There is a legal case pending against Puneet and he cannot be extradited to Australia.

“Whatever the outcome of the extradition case, Puneet will not be sent to Australia, till a decision on his domestic violence case is made.”

Puneet, then a 19-year-old learner driver, downed four whisky and cokes at a party in Nunawading before getting behind the wheel of his V8 Holden Commodore and travelling up to 150km/h to Southbank where he struck Gold Coast university students Dean Hofstee and his friend Clancy Coker.

Mr Hofstee died while Mr Coker suffered serious head and leg injuries.

Puneet pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death but was given bail and fled to India using friend Sukhcharanjit Singh’s passport in June 2009.

Police eventually recaptured him just hours before his wedding after a tip-off from a member of the public.

He has since used a long list of excuses, from being gravely ill to accusing Australia of being a racist country, to evade justice.

Puneet has also vanished on multiple occasions during his extradition battle.

He faces a maximum 20-year jail term for the charge of culpable driving causing death, if authorities can ever get him back here.