By Ivan Pereira
Issuing a special extradition warrant, Gov. Eliot Spitzer requested that Mikhail Mallayev return to Queens Criminal Court to face charges of second-degree murder in the October shooting of Dr. Daniel Malkov, a Dekalb County DA spokeswoman said. A Georgia judge approved the warrant during a special hearing at the DeKalb County Court House Monday morning.
“He'll be back in Queens sometime this week,” the spokeswoman said.
Malakov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, was shot on Oct. 28 outside the Annadale Playground in Forest Hills as he dropped off his daughter Michelle so that she could visit his ex-wife, Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova, who is a distant niece of Mallayev, police said. Borukhova, who is also an Uzbek immigrant, had lost temporary custody of her daughter days before the shooting as part of a ongoing bitter custody battle with Malakov.
Michelle was later put into foster care by a Queens Family Court judge who ruled Borukhova was unfit to take care of her.
Police tracked fingerprints found on a makeshift silencer abandoned by the shooter to Mallayev's fingerprints, which were on record for a previous arrest. Georgia police arrested Mallayev on Nov. 17 and he fought extradition from a DeKalb County jail.
Malakov's family have openly accused Borukhova of being involved in the shooting, but police have not arrested her or named her as a suspect. Investigators did issue a search warrant for Borukhova's residence and medical office and confiscated a computer, police said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
