AN INCREASED reward for the capture of the prime suspect in the Hannah Foster murder hunt is to be publicised on international television.

Hampshire police have agreed to take part in a series of interviews with international media in a bid to raise awareness of a massive £70,000 now being offered for information leading to the arrest of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli.

The appeals include a high-profile slot with Sky News, which will be broadcast around the world, and interviews with various Indian television stations.

In addition, full details of the increased reward - which had previously stood at £14,000 - have been placed on Hampshire police's force website, making the information available at the touch of the button anywhere in the world.

As reported in the Daily Echo, a reward of 5,000,000 rupees is now on offer to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of Kohli.

The father-of-two is wanted by police in the UK and India for the murder of Southampton student Hannah, 17, who was abducted as she walked home from a night out in Portswood last March.

Kohli, 35, caught a flight to Delhi two days after Hannah's body was found in Allington Lane, West End.

Now one of Britain's most wanted men, he is thought to be on the run in the Punjab, where he is known to have family in the Chandigarh region.

Hampshire detectives have done everything possible to track him down but have no jurisdiction in India and must leave it for police there to make the longed-for arrest.

Murder squad detectives are hoping the massive reward - more than enough to support a family for a lifetime in the Punjab - will help flush out Kohli from wherever he has been hiding.

Det Supt Alan Betts, leading the murder inquiry, codenamed Operation Springfield, said he had been in contact with senior police officers in charge of the investigation in India about the increased reward.

"We hope the offer of this reward will encourage people who have not come forward to assist in the investigation to date to do so now," he said.

Information to the Operation Springfield incident room on 0845 045 4545, or the anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.