The wife of Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, prime suspect in the rape and murder of British teenager Hannah Foster, turned hostile in a Delhi court on Thursday.

Shailender Kaur, who is based in the UK, claimed she had made statements implicating her husband last year owing to 'coercion and atmosphere of fear' created by the British police.

"My depositions dated November 2, 2004 in UK was not authored by me and I was simply asked to affix my signature even without knowing its contents by using sheer force and coercion," Kaur said in an affidavit filed before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravinder Dudeja.

She also claimed she was kept hostage and was allowed to come to India only following international pressure.

Kaur, who was present in the court, denied the part of the statement where she gave an impression that her husband was nervous when he came home on the night of March 14, 2003 (the day of the murder).

"He neither revealed any such event nor did he say he was in trouble. He was in a very balanced state of mind and never showed symptoms of anxiety," she said in the affidavit.

Kohli, who had named Kaur as a 'crucial defence witness', had earlier accused the probe officials of keeping her at an 'unknown place'. He had also moved the United Nations Human Rights Commission and European Court on Human Rights urging assistance to know her whereabouts.

Handing over a copy of the affidavit to the prosecution, the court sought their reply on June 4.

Kohli had confessed to his crime before the police and the media on July 27, 2004.

Earlier reports:
Foster case: Kohli retracts confession
Two more held in Hannah Foster case
Kohli wants to 'unburden his soul'
I want to ask Kohli if he is guilty, says wife