Couple who adopted 11-year-old boy had him brutally murdered so they could collect $193,000 insurance payout, say police
A London couple has been accused of having their adopted son murdered to profit from a life insurance policy they had made for him.
Kaval Raijada, 30, and Arti Dhir, 55, from Hanwell, London, had traveled to Keshod, a town in the western Indian state of Gujarat, to adopt an orphan in 2015, according to the BBC. They reportedly placed an advert in a local newspaper promising to take the child back to London.
They were eventually introduced to 11-year-old Gopal Sejani, a farm boy who was living with his older sister and her husband Harsukh Kardani. The pair, who were his guardians, agreed to the adoption under the belief that he would have a better life with Raijada and Dhir in London and started preparing the adoption papers.
But, according to Gujarat police, the London couple had an ulterior motive behind the adoption. They said that Dhir immediately took out an insurance policy worth £150,000 ($193,000) in Gopal's name by making two premium payments of $19,300 each, which would have paid out either in 10 years or in the event of the 11-year-old's death.
They then returned to London to wait for Gopal, who remained in Gujarat as his visa papers were arranged. But the boy would never make it to the UK.
On February 8, 2017, he was abducted by two men on motorbikes, stabbed, and left to die by a road.
Harsukh, who was with him at the time, was also attacked when he tried to defend the boy. Both died of their injuries later the same month.
The attack was not an isolated incident either, according to Indian authorities, who said that two previous attempts had been made against Gopal's life.
Indian police arrested four people in connection to the murders, including a man who was reportedly a friend of the couple and had spent time with them as a student in London. Raijada and Dhir, who face six charges in India, including conspiracy to murder and kidnapping, were arrested in June that year in the UK following a request from the Indian government.
The couple, who did not receive any insurance payout, has denied wrongdoing, and on July 2, authorities in India hit another setback after a judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court refused their extradition on human rights grounds.
Senior District Judge Emma Arbuthnot noted there was sufficient evidence to justify extradition as there was a "circumstantial prima facie case that Ms. Dhir and Mr. Raijada acting together and with others committed the offenses."
However, she said Gujarat's punishment of life in prison without parole for double murder was contrary to the couple's human rights under UK law and denied extradition.
The Indian authorities' appeal concerning the case is expected to be heard next year. If it fails, the couple, who is currently free on bail, could be prosecuted in the UK.