CHICAGO (IL)
Bellingham Herald
By GARY MARX AND DAVID JACKSON – Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO -Prosecutors said Monday that they are ending their decade-long effort to extradite a former Roman Catholic priest who fled to India shortly before he was charged with 20 counts of criminal sexual assault and abuse of a 16-year-old Chicago girl.
Sleeva Raju Policetti has maintained his innocence since abruptly leaving Chicago in 2002, and in India he has waged a protracted court battle against efforts to extradite him to Chicago to face trial.
Policetti’s alleged victim initially worked with authorities, setting in motion an international extradition that required the approval of the U.S. State and Justice departments and India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
But in recent days she told Shauna Boliker, the Cook County first assistant state’s attorney, that she no longer wanted to pursue the case, effectively forcing prosecutors to drop it.
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