Murder most foul: 19 years on, US citizen’s death remains unresolved
MUMBAI: A Thane court on Saturday remanded 48-year-old Vipul Patel, one of four accused in a 19-year-old case involving the murder of a United States citizen in Mumbai, to 14 days judicial custody.
Patel was acquitted by a lower court in the 2003 murder of Leona Swiderski, a 33-yearold model. The state challenged the verdict and the Bombay high court (HC), which was hearing the appeal against Patel and Swiderski’s fiancé, Pragnesh Desai, issued a nonbailable warrant against the two last year.
The police arrested Desai from Baroda last March, and the Interpol issued a red corner notice for Patel. He was apprehended in Prague last month and a four-member team, led by Amit Kale, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone-1, brought Patel back to the city on Friday. He will be produced before the HC on Monday.
Desai, who is currently out on bail, was accused of agreeing to pay Patel to kidnap and murder Swiderski. Patel, in turn, allegedly hired Altaf Gafoor Patel and Farooq Banarasi (who were never arrested) to commit the crime. Patel on Saturday said that he was not involved in the murder. “I reside in England with my wife and child for the last 20 years and work as a plant engineer. I was in Prague for a day for some work. I am not involved in the murder and was not even in the city when the incident took place. I already went through lot of stress earlier but was acquitted as the police could not prove my involvement. I have also lost my job following the deportation,” Patel said.
A sensational case
On February 8, 2003, Desai (then 39) landed at Mumbai’s international airport with his fiancée, Leona Swiderski (33), an aspiring fashion model. Desai, a naturalized US citizen, lived in New Jersey, where he owned two convenience stores in Cliffside Park and Woodridge, and owned stake in a restaurant in Manhattan.
However, shortly after landing, Desai approached the Sahar airport police and told them that his fiancé was missing. He told them that they were separated after he went to the washroom in the airport after alighting from their Air India flight. When he came out, he couldn’t find Swiderski anywhere.
The same day, at around 12.30 pm, the body of a Caucasian woman was found on a deserted stretch along the Mumbai-ahmedabad National Highway. The Kashimira police registered it is as murder case, as autopsy revealed that the woman was strangulated.
When they discovered that a foreigner of matching description was reported missing, the Kashimira police asked Desai to identify the body. He went to the station accompanied by friend,
Rashmikumar Kshatriya.
It was Kshatriya who told the police during interrogation that Desai was behind the murder and had allegedly hatched a conspiracy with Patel.
According to Sanjay Hazare, senior police inspector Kashimira police station, who was one of the policemen who retrieved Patel from Prague, Altaf, Farooq and Patel were waiting in a blue Sedan in the parking lot of the airport. The couple landed at around 3.30 am and proceeded to the parking lot. When Swiderski got into the car, a chloroform-laced handkerchief was placed on her mouth and she was later strangulated. Desai remained behind at the airport, while the car left. They dumped Swiderski’s body along the national highway.
Another case in the US
On May 5, 2003 — while their trial was pending before Thane sessions court — a New Jersey district court in the United States registered a complaint against Desai and Patel, charging them with wire fraud for trying to gain from Swiderski’s life insurance policy. The court issued a warrant for their arrest. Two days later, the US embassy made a request to the external affairs ministry to provisionally arrest Desai for the purpose of his extradition to stand trial for the alleged insurance fraud.
The US indictment, which was based on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe following Swiderski’s death, pointed out that Desai and Patel hatched a conspiracy to kill Swiderski in January 2003 when Desai bought two halfmillion-dollar life insurance policies for her (US$405 and US$425 each). The object of the conspiracy was to kill her on arrival in India and collect the insurance amount back in the US. HT has seen a copy of the indictment.
The indictment added that according to the plan, on January 14, 2003, Desai met Patel in Baroda at the residence of “RK”, where it was decided that Desai would pay Patel Rs 30 lakh to get Swiderski killed. On January 28, he asked “RK” to pay sum of Rs 10 lakh as partial payment for arranging the murder.
It further added that Desai had on January 29, 2003, purchased two tickets for Air India flight 144 from Newark to Mumbai and on February 4, he told Patel that they would reach Mumbai early in the morning on February 8.
Acquittal by Thane court
Back home, Desai and Patel were charged with conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence and put to trial in the Thane sessions court.
On September 26, 2003, the court acquitted both Desai and Patel for want of cogent evidence. The court refused to accept Kshatriya’s statement recorded before the magistrate as a valid piece of evidence and said that said that the special judicial magistrate failed to affirm that the witness was making a voluntary disclosure.
The court said the investigating officer had not collected any direct evidence to prove the charge of murder or destruction of evidence. The Maharashtra government filed an appeal in the Bombay high court challenging the duo’s acquittal and Desai was not extradited.
In February 2021, when the appeal came up for hearing, the Bombay HC noticed Patel’s continued absence, and his lawyer, Nitin Sejpal, told the court that Patel had blocked his (lawyer’s) phone number.
Patel however claimed that there was no communication from his lawyer. “The number he tried was my old number. If I had been contacted through right means, I would have appeared before the court and this non-bailable warrant would not have been issued,” he said.