THE Indian equivalent of the FBI has been drafted in to help track down the prime suspect for the murder of Southampton student Hannah Foster.

Hampshire detectives are liaising with officers from the elite Central Bureau of Investigation in the hunt for the 35-year-old father-of-two.

The suspect is known to have left Southampton two days after the body of 17-year-old Hannah was discovered in undergrowth in Allington Lane, West End.

Police investigations revealed he had caught a flight from Heathrow Airport to India on Tuesday, March 18.

The suspect, who is married, is now thought to be on the run in the Punjab region where he is known to have close family.

Now the CBI, based in New Delhi, has taken up the case on behalf of Hampshire Constabulary and is currently trying to locate the suspect.

Working as an intermediary between national and international police agencies, the bureau also acts as an agency for Interpol in India.

Meanwhile, a team of six murder squad detectives from Hampshire remains on stand-by to fly out to India at short notice once the suspect has been detained.

It is thought not all six officers will make the trip but all have undergone the necessary vaccinations should they be required.

As revealed in the Daily Echo, a warrant for the man's arrest was issued by Southampton magistrates on the grounds of murder, kidnap, false imprisonment, rape, manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

Hampshire police spokesman Lucy Dibdin said today: "We are continuing to liaise with the Indian police in the hope of locating this man and returning him to the UK as swiftly as possible."

A massive murder investigation codenamed Operation Springfield was launched after Hannah's body was found on Sunday, March 16. She had been raped and strangled.

The teenager, who was studying for A-levels at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh, had disappeared after an evening out with friends two nights earlier. Police believe she was abducted yards from her Portswood home.

A prime suspect was identified as a result of a tip-off following a national appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch UK programme.