Retired French accountant André Bamberski waited more than a quarter of a century for the man he believed had killed his daughter to be brought to justice.

Exactly 27 years and 99 days after Kalinka Bamberski, 14, died, her father took the law into his own hands, judges heard as his court case started today.

The man he blamed for killing her, German cardiologist Dieter Krombach, was abducted from his home in Bavaria in October, beaten, bound and gagged. He was then driven across the border to France where he was left near a courthouse in the eastern city of Mulhouse.

Bamberski told investigators he had received an anonymous telephone call in October from someone offering to snatch the doctor, but denies organising or taking part in the abduction. He has been put under official investigation for his role in the kidnapping and appeared before two judges for questioning today.

Police found Krombach, 74, who had been convicted of the manslaughter of Bamberski's daughter by a French court in absentia – after an anonymous caller with an "eastern European accent" tipped them off. Bamberski, 72, who is of Polish origin, and was in Mulhouse at the time, is believed to have made the call.

Krombach was taken into custody, as was Bamberski.

The snatching of Krombach two months ago brought to light the story of this heartbroken but determined father's relentless crusade on behalf of his daughter.

Year after year, Bamberski, with the help of private detectives, locals and supporters of his campaign "Justice for Kalinka" made sure he knew where Krombach was living and working. He also made sure the doctor not only knew he knew, but was aware he would never give up.

Kalinka Bamberski died in mysterious circumstances in July 1982 while on holiday with her mother and stepfather, Krombach, at Lake Constance in southern Germany. She was found in her bed one morning with needle wounds on her arms and a minor injury to her genitals.

Krombach said the death was an accident after he injected her with a substance used to combat anaemia to help her tan. Her father believed she had been injected with a sedative and raped.

A post-mortem examination failed to establish the cause of death and the doctor was cleared of any involvement. However, three years later, when Bamberski demanded a second autopsy and Kalinka's body was exhumed it was found that her genitals had been removed ruling out any chance of further tests.

Bamberski refused to give up and in 1995 persuaded a French court to try Krombach in his absence. The doctor was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "deliberate violence leading to death without the intention of killing" by injecting her with a toxic substance, but the German authorities refused to extradite the doctor.

In 1997 Krombach was found guilty in Germany of the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old patient and sentenced to two years in prison. He was later suspended and banned from practising. In 2006 the doctor was arrested for continuing to treat patients and sentenced to two years.

When he was released in June 2008, Bamberski redoubled his efforts to bring him to court for the death of his daughter. Sixteen months later, Dieter Krombach was delivered to the French courts. Germany has sought to repatriate him, but the French authorities insist he will now face a retrial in France.

Bamberski is, in any case, relieved and unrepentant. "I can now smile. After 27 years of fighting I can finally say in my prayers to Kalinka that the promises I made her are beginning to be kept," he told his local newspaper La Dépêche after his arrest in October.

"I only accepted a proposition that consisted of bringing Krombach to France because the German courts had refused to extradite him. I was never aware of the details of that abduction."

He added: "The biggest part of my fight is finished. But I will not be completely at peace until he is in front of the court to answer for the death of my daughter."