AN APPEAL has been made on Indian television for the prime suspect in the Hannah Foster murder hunt to give himself up.

The father and brother of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, below, - who is wanted for questioning by Hampshire detectives investigating the murder of the 17-year-old Southampton student - appeared on local news in the Punjab to plead for the fugitive to surrender to police.

Delivery driver Singh, 35, was last night officially named by Hampshire police as their prime suspect.

He caught a flight from Heathrow to Delhi two days after the teenager's body was found dumped in Allington Lane, West End. She had been raped and strangled.

It is believed Singh, a married father-of-two, spent about ten days with relatives in the Punjab capital city of Chandigarh before vanishing following a telephone call from the UK.

Police are confident he is still in the Punjab as he was believed to have limited funds on him at the time of his disappearance.

Murder squad detectives from Hampshire have travelled to India in the hope of speeding up the suspect's arrest and subsequent extradition proceedings.

As reported in the Daily Echo, three officers working on the police inquiry, codenamed Operation Springfield, flew to Delhi last Wednesday.

The trio, who include a Punjabi-speaking woman police officer, have spent many hours liaising with officials from the British High Commission and Interpol in Delhi, where the temperature is currently about 100 degrees.

Yesterday Singh's brother Ishtpreet, a Punjab police intelligence officer, appeared on Indian television with his father Jagjit, 70, to appeal for Maninder to surrender.

Mr Singh senior, a retired government officer, said: "He has to give himself up.

"If he has done something he has to face the consequences. If he is innocent, he has to clear his name."

Hampshire detectives expect to travel to Chandigarh today once lengthy administrative matters have been completed in Delhi.

Last night Det Supt Alan Betts, leading the murder hunt, told the Daily Echo: "Although we have not yet travelled to Chandigarh, we have met and been liaising with their local police.

"There are various administrative processes we have had to go through but overall we are making good progress.

"This is not necessarily about finding the suspect and bringing him back but about making sure all the right processes are in place."

Singh, a Sikh, lived with his wife and two sons, aged four and six, in a flat in Broadlands Road, Swaythling.

Hannah, of Grosvenor Road, Portswood, disappeared on her way home from a night out with friends on March 14.