A 48-year-old man from Durham Region who was wanted by police after allegedly abducting his young child in India has been arrested.
Police allege that the suspect travelled with his three-year-old son, Valentino, to Delhi in July 2024 and failed to return to Canada with the boy by a court-ordered date of Aug. 8.
They say he kept custody of the child in contravention of the court order.
A Canada-warrant was issued earlier this year for Kapil Sunak, 48, of Ashburn (a hamlet of Whitby), for abduction by parent/custody order.
On Tuesday, Sunak was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency upon his return to Toronto at Pearson International Airport.
Arrangements had been made for him to return to Canada.
Sunak has been charged with abduction of a child under 14 years in contravention of a court order. He was scheduled to appear in bail court on June 11.
Earlier this year, Valentino’s mother, Camila Vilas Boas, travelled to northern India’s Chandigarh region after learning that her son was in that area with his father.
After a long legal battle, Boas told CP24 that on April 22 a judge in Chandigarh’s high court ordered Sunak to return his son to her and issued an order of repatriation to Canada for Valentino.
Boas and the boy returned to Canada late last month.
What complicated matters in this case is that India is not a signatory of an international convention that helps to resolve cross-border custody disputes, nor is parental abduction considered a crime there, meaning that Sunak would not be charged there for allegedly withholding Valentino, who is now four-years-old, from his mother, nor would he face extradition to Canada.
This investigation is ongoing and anyone with further information is asked to contact Toronto police at 416-808-1200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
