Elmont man faces 25 years for 2009 rape

International search led to arrest of Rosalind Avenue resident

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The Nassau County Special Victims Squad arrested an Elmont man on Sept. 28 and charged him with raping a 14-year-old girl in March 2009.

Amit Singh, 32, of Rosalind Avenue, has been extradited from India to face the charges. According to police, Singh boarded a plane to India five days after the attack, when he learned that the girl had reported the crime — and one day before she picked Singh out from a photo array presented by police.

In April 2009, DNA evidence from the attack was found to be a match for Singh, whose profile was in the system from a prior felony drug conviction. A grand jury indicted him that August on charges of first- and second-degree rape, first and third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. A Red Notice, an international warrant, was issued for Singh by Interpol in February 2011.

That July, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs notified the Nassau County district attorney’s office that Singh had been arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India, while trying to board a plane to Thailand. Since then, Singh had been imprisoned in India, pending extradition to the U.S. Members of the U.S. Marshals Service traveled to India and brought Singh back to Kennedy International Airport, where he was arrested, on Sept. 28.

According to police, Singh had forced the girl, a Sewanhaka High School student, into his home as she was walking to school. He raped her in his bedroom, police said, and then drove her to school, where she told a teacher about the incident later that day.

“Mr. Singh subjected this innocent young girl to unspeakable horrors, both physical and emotional, before running to the other side of the world to avoid the consequences,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. “[U.S. law enforcement officials guaranteed that there was no corner of the globe where this predator could safely hide.”

Singh was arraigned the day of his arrest in First District Court in Hempstead.