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Amitkumar Kanubhai Patel, 38, “obstructed the parental rights of his child’s mother by kidnapping the child and failing to return him to the United States when ordered to do so,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
He even told the mother that he was “never bringing the child back to the United States,” Honig said.
Patel, most recently of Vadodara, India, had lived with the Cherry Hill woman from August 2015 through July 2017, the U.S. attorney said. Their son was born in November 2016, she said.
According to Honig, the mother told authorities that Patel wanted to take the child to India to introduce him to his parents and obtain DNA testing that he claimed was necessary to claim property that his family owned there.
The boy was four months old when Patel tried and failed to obtain a visa for the youngster, she said.
Patel “told the child’s mother that in order to obtain an Indian visa for the child, he would need to secure sole custody,” Honig said.
Before going to court, she said, Patel directed her to tell the judge that they had a “mutual understanding” about custody, that she didn’t have a work permit and couldn’t care for the boy because she was unemployed,
The majority of the family court hearing on May 1, 2017 “was conducted in English with no translator,” said the mother, who at the time spoke limited English.
“The mother answered the court’s questions as she had been instructed by Patel,” Honig said Friday. “She was not represented by an attorney during the hearing.
Patel was granted sole legal custody, after which he immediately obtained visas for himself and the boy, the U.S. attorney said.
They left on July 26 for what Patel told the child’s mother would be a two-week trip, she said.
The mother said she sent several messages to Patel trying to confirm that they’d arrived safely but “got no response for several days,” Honig said.
“Patel eventually called the mother and said he was never bringing the child back to the United States,” she said.
The mother got a lawyer and on Oct. 16, 2018, a Superior Court judge ordered that Patel immediately return the boy to the United States.
He didn’t.
A federal grand jury sitting in Camden returned an indictment on July 22, 2020 charging Patel with international parental kidnapping.
“On Oct. 2, 2020, Patel and the child flew from India to the United Kingdom, where Patel was arrested,” Honig said.
Patel was extradited from England to the United States on Thursday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen M. William ordered him detained following a video-conferenced hearing in Camden federal court, Honig said.
She didn't say where the boy is.
The U.S. attorney credited special agents of the FBI with the investigation leading to the indictment. She also thanked members of the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) for their assistance.
Deputy U.S. Attorney Andrew Carey and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Richardson of Honig’s Criminal Division in Camden are handling the prosecution, she said.
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