Insurance Claim: Couple Kills Adopted Son To Defraud Insurance Firm

An Insurance company has refused to pay London couple who were accused by the Indian Police of hiring assassins to kill their 11 year old adopted son over £150,000 Life Insurance

Indian police alleged the husband and wife, from west London, planned the murder of Gopal Sejani, 11, in Gujarat, in 2017 in order to get a £150,000 payout from an insurance company.

Both of them deny the allegations.

Junagadh Police Superintendent Saurab Singh, in Gujar rat, told the BBC: “It was a huge amount and she paid two premiums (£15,000), knowing very well that in the event of Gopal’s death, she would be paid ten times the insured amount.”

The couple, who do not have children, adopted orphan Gopal after initially placing a newspaper advert in 2015, according to court papers.

The farm boy was in the care of his brother in law Harsukh Kardani and his older sister at the time and they agreed to let him go because they wanted a better life for him in the UK.

Police alleged it was all a deception and the couple actually planned his killing after taking out a life insurance policy, which would be paid out after a decade, after visiting Keshod, in Gujarat, India.

Gopal died in hospital after being kidnapped and stabbed by two men on motorbikes in Gujarat on February 8, 2017, according to police.

The boy, who was found lying injured in the street, had been waiting for his UK visa application to be approved.

Gopal’s brother-in-law Mr Kardani was also murdered trying to defend him from the attackers.

Police said it was the third time someone had tried to kill the boy.

They later arrested four men, with one of them claiming they were a friend of Ms Dhir and Mr Raijada and had previously lived with them in London when he was a student.

The couple is wanted for a total of six offences, including kidnapping and conspiracy to murder.

They were detained by British police in June 2017 after an extradition request was sent by the Indian authorities but this was ultimately denied by a judge on July 2.

Senior District Judge Emma Arbuthnot admitted there was enough evidence to extradite the couple but argued the maximum punishment they could receive of life in prison without parole would have contravened their human rights under UK law.

She described the sentence as inhuman and degrading, with experts arguing the fact India was unlikely to release the couple even in compassionate circumstances influenced the judge’s decision.

Ms Dhir, who is on bail with her husband until an appeal from Indian authorities is heard, refused to comment when she was approached by the BBC outside her home.

The insurance company never paid out to the couple.

The investigation of the murders in India continues.