The UK court on Tuesday refused a request by India to extradite Indian origin couple accused of plotting the murder of their adopted 12-year-old son to claim life insurance.
The couple was also accused of plotting the murder of their adopted son Gopal Sejani’s brother-in-law. However, the court turned down the request for extradition for the reason that life sentences for multiple murders do not get reviewed in India’s state Gujarat, where the victims were murdered.
India had requested the extradition of Nairobi-born Indian origin Arti Dhir, 54, and her Indian origin husband Kaval Mahendrasinh Raijada, 30, who reside in London, in order to stand legal proceeding in Gujarat in relation to six allegations of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, attempt to commit murder, kidnapping, abduction for the purpose of committing murder and abetting a crime.
While Dhir’s family hails from Gurdaspur in Punjab, Raijada’s hails from Keshod in Gujarat.
Handing down the judgment, chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, who is also the district judge for Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi extradition case, said: “I find there is a circumstantial prima facie case that Ms. Dhir and Mr. Raijada acting together and with others committed the offenses set out above.” But she discharged the Indian origin couple saying extradition would be incompatible with Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. This is owing to the fact that there is no possibility of a review either at the state level or by the President of India of a life sentence the couple would likely receive if convicted for double murder, she said.
The couple allegedly conspired with five others to murder Gopal in Gujarat and then divide the proceeds from a claim on the insurance policy Dhir took out for Gopal worth Rs 1.3 crore.
The couple, who have been out on conditional bail, adopted Gopal in 2015 in India when he was 11-year-old because Dhir could not have children. Gopal never moved to London.
Instead, Gopal was abducted and stabbed by two hitmen on a motorbike on February 8, 2017, in Keshod. He died on February 11, 2017. Gopal’s brother-in-law Harsukhbhai Kardani was also stabbed and died on February 17, 2017. The defendants are said to have arranged for the child to be killed with a number of others, as well as Raijada’s father and one Mund in India.
The motive is said to be fiscal as a wealth builder policy which was, in essence, a life insurance policy was set up for Gopal in 2015. In the case of Gopal’s death, it would pay 10 times the value of the annual premium of Rs 1.3 crore. Dhir was the proposer and would benefit.
The magistrate said: “there was strong evidence of money being sent from the defendants’ London bank account to the man who organized the killing. Relevant emails were exchanged between the UK and India. This evidence means it is not impossible for a prosecution to be initiated here”.
