RAGUSA — An Indian man accused of trying to kidnap a 5-year-old girl in Ragusa has been transferred to an Centre for Identification and Expulsion (CIE) in the Sicilian city of Caltanisetta pending his expulsion from Italy, officials say. 

 The assistant chief police of the city, Nicola Spampinato, was the one to sign the measure, after a decree of expulsion issued to the 43-year-old Ram Lubhaya was about to expire.

 Lubhaya, who has no fixed place of residence, has in the meantime taken legal action against those who have threatened him in the last few days. 

 Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando has defended the decision to launch an investigation to verify the eventual responsibility on the decision not to have to pay for Lubhaya’s detention costs. 

 Lubhaya has only been accused of attempted kidnapping since, according to an eyewitness account, he held the 5-year-old’s hand “for no longer than 45 seconds, and took her just 10 metres away" from the beach where the girl was spending the day with her parents. The decision not to prosecute but to expel the Indian suspect set off a furore in Sicily.

lej