MUMBAI, April 17 -- A special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on Thursday permitted alleged gangster Kumar Krishnan Pillai to return to his home country, Hong Kong, rejecting the state's contention that he be sent back to Singapore, from where he was extradited in 2016, after being acquitted in three cases of alleged extortion. Special judge Satyanarayan R Navander observed that there was no requirement to send the alleged gangster back to the extraditing country once the trial was over, and directed the state to issue the necessary no-objection certificate without insisting on his return to Singapore. The alleged gangster was extradited from Singapore after India sought his return in six cases, but extradition was granted only in three cases involving alleged extortion of builders and firing incidents. He was subsequently tried only in those three cases and was acquitted in all of them. The prosecution had relied on section 21 of the Extradition Act and the order in the Daya Singh Lahoria case to argue that an extradited fugitive must be "restored" to the surrendering state. The court, however, held that the principles operated in a different context. Quoting the Supreme Court, the judge recorded that while an extradited person could not be tried for offences beyond those for which extradition was granted "unless he has been restored to or has had an opportunity to return to the state which surrendered him", the provision applied where further prosecution was contemplated, not to post-trial repatriation. "The issue is materially different" as no additional prosecution was sought, the court noted. It found no stipulation for Pillai's return in the extradition order, any undertaking by Indian authorities, or request from Singapore seeking his return. "The reliance placed by the prosecution. appears to be misplaced and not applicable to the facts of the present case," the order said....