UK couple ‘arranged murder of adopted Indian son’
Pair accused of hiring hitman to claim £150k life insurance
‘Fatally stabbed in the attack’
AN Airport worker has been accused of hiring hitmen to murder her adopted son for an insurance payout.
Arti Dhir, 55, and her husband Kaval raijada, 30, face charges over a plot that killed 11-year-old Gopal Sejani and a relative.
She is said to have taken out a life insurance policy on the orphan – making herself the sole beneficiary. it would pay out up to £150,000 on death.
Dhir, from Hanwell in west London, paid two insurance premiums totalling around £30,000, it is alleged. Astonishing details of the case have come to light following an extradition hearing.
it was told that Dhir, who came from Kenya as a child, arranged with her husband to adopt Gopal after placing an advert in an indian newspaper.
the child was told his ‘life would be improved’ with a move to Britain.
But he was abducted and stabbed by two men on motorbikes in Gujarat in February 2017. His brother-in-law, who was caring for him while the adoption was being finalised, was fatally stabbed during the attack.
the pair of attackers were with two other men, including raijada’s father.
on his deathbed, Gopal’s brother-inlaw said he suspected the other two men were involved because they did not intervene.
Nitish Mund, a student who allegedly knew Dhir and her husband from London, is now said to have confessed to police his complicity in the murder.
Court papers said: ‘ He explained that he was recruited to kill Gopal by the couple and the original plan was for them to go to india together and do it there. He said they put pressure on him on the basis that they had spent money on unsuccessfully trying to extend his visa when he was back in india.’
there were also two failed attempts to kill Gopal, it is alleged. When these failed, raijada was said to be ‘furious’ and swore at Mund.
‘He pressurised Mr Mund to get on with the killing, or “the work” as Mr Mund called it,’ documents said.
the couple are said to have arranged the murder from their housing association flat in London, after visiting Gopal in india only once.
A man who answered the door at the address yesterday said: ‘ they don’t want to speak to any media.’ they were arrested in London in June 2017, shortly after Dhir was named by interpol as one of Britain’s ‘most wanted’.
Four men have been arrested in india for their alleged involvement, where the penalty for a double murder stands at a whole life sentence, without prospect of release.
Superintendent Saurab Singh of Junagadh police in Gujarat said: ‘Dhir and raijada are accused of a criminal conspiracy to kidnap a young boy of 11 years. they had taken an insurance in his name. they kidnapped him and got him murdered.’
A first extradition hearing took place in January, with further hearings in June and July at Westminster magistrates’ court.
But a judge said potential life sentences without parole in india would be ‘inhuman and degrading’ – breaching their human rights.
Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot acknowledged the pair could be convicted based on the evidence against them, including the belief that ‘there is only one person that would financially gain from this little boy’s murder and that is Miss Dhir’.
However she found extraditing the couple to india would breach their human rights on the grounds that their life sentences would have no possibility of review.
‘i find there are substantial grounds for believing that they would face a real risk of being subjected to treatment, a lack of review of a life sentence, which would be inhuman and degrading.’
the indian government has appealed against the decision, with a further hearing scheduled for January.
Miss Arbuthnot said that it was ‘not impossible’ for a prosecution to be initiated in the UK.