The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Adopted son, murder for insurance: Gujarat wants UK couple extradited
AS SOON as she cut the local journalist’s call, Alpa Kardani, 37, switched on the TV. A UK court had sentenced Indian-origin couple, Arti Dhir, 59, and her husband Kavaljitsinh Raijada, 35, to 33 years each in jail on January 30, 2024, for exporting drugs to Australia. With this news, Alpa, a resident of Malia village in Gujarat’s Junagadh district, hoped she too would get justice one day.
A conspiracy allegedly hatched by the couple had cut short the lives of Alpa’s husband Harsukh Kardani, 47, and her younger brother Gopal Sejani, 11, in February 2017.
All efforts so far to extradite the couple to India for the murder trial have failed.
In April 2009, Alpa’s father, a landless labourer, died, leaving her responsible for her five younger siblings, including a nearly 3-year-old Gopal, besides her infant son Raju, husband Harsukh and his parents.
However, the 10 bighas her in-laws owned just about sustained the family. Around 2014, the family got an offer through a relative: an NRI couple was looking to adopt a child. It helped that Kavaljitsinh’s father Mahendrasinh, from nearby Keshod, was known to the relative.
Alpa recalls, “During our meeting in Keshod, Arti spoke to us through an interpreter. She promised to take good care of Gopal. That’s why we agreed to the adoption.”
Mahendrasinh’s statement to the police says Kavaljitsinh left for London in 2008 to do his MBA and that he married Arti, then 52, a Nairobi-born British citizen with roots in Punjab, around 2012-13.
Mahendrasinh’s statement, a part of the chargesheet filed in a Junagadh court, says the couple visited Keshod thrice after the wedding. He told the police that his son had told him about Arti’s desire to adopt a child. Around 2014, Mahendrasinh, then the manager at a cooperative bank’s Malia branch, learnt about Alpa’s sibling situation. Harsukh too frequented his bank branch for work.
Things moved fast after that. A sessions court declared Alpa and Harsukh as Gopal’s legal guardians, following which they got a private adoption deed registered on July 23, 2015. The document mentions Arti as “Aarti Loknath Dhir”, but nothing on her marital status. Though Gopal was now officially Arti’s adopted son, he stayed with Alpa since his travel papers were not ready. In February 2017, before he could even set foot in the UK, Gopal was killed. What went wrong?
The chargesheet says the NRI couple had always planned to insure their adopted child and kill him to claim the payout. Nitish Mund, 27, Arti’s paying guest in London, was also roped in to be
a part of the conspiracy hatched at her London flat. His confession helped unravel the plot.
Junagadh DIG Nilesh Jajadia said two days after the adoption, Arti opened an account at a private bank’s Keshod branch. He says she also applied for a Rs 2.4crore life insurance cover in Gopal’s name at a private insurance firm’s branch in Rajkot the same day, but her application was reje ct ed.NKVyas,t hen with the Jun ag adhcri me branch, said ,“she was finally able to purchase a Rs 1.3-crore life insurance policy in Gopal’s name (from another private bank’s insurance division in Jun ag ad hon august 24,2015) and even paid the first annual premium of Rs 13 lakh.”
Calling Harsukh “collateral damage”, DIG Jajadia said, “After purchasing the insurance, they put a hit out on Gopal.”
Nitish told the police that he “invested” Rs 4 lakh towards the 2015 premium, but they could not execute their plan for a year.
Since Nitish did not have money for the 2016 premium, the couple allegedly told him to “kill Gopal” in lieu of his share. They also“promised” to sponsor hisuk visa. In August 2016, Nitish returned to work in his father’s Rajkot-based garage.
As directed by Kavaljitsinh, Nitish called Harsukh and Gopal to Rajkot multiple times to “process the boy’s passport and Uk visa ”. however, he failed thrice in his attempts to kill Gopal.
After his first failed attempt, Nitish gave the assignment to Ra jp ari go swami, a contract killer, for Rs 2 lakh. They planned to kill Gopal at the Malia railway crossing. Accordingly, Nitish told Ha rsukhandg opal that his driver would drop them home. Nitish and raj par it ailed the caron a bike but failed to reach the crossing on time. After this, Rajpari raised his fee to Rs 5 lakh and demanded an advance, saying he would need two hitmen to kill Gopal.
A nearly broke Nitish turned to Kavaljitsinh who “transferred Rs 25,000 to him”. The third attempt too failed — the steel pipes and sticks the hitmen had planned to use in the attack were seized during a random checking drive by the police. The fourth time proved to be fatal.
On February 8, 2017, Harsukh and Gopal were summoned to Rajkot once again. This time, Nitish accompanied them in his car to Malia. Around 11.30 pm, he asked his driver to stop the car near Keshod under false pretences. According to Harsukh’s complaint, he was relieving himself when two masked bikers (later identified as Rajpari and the other hitman) tried to flee with Gopal. Harsukh intervened, but Raj paris tab bed him and fled with Gopal. They stabbed Gopal multiple times a short distance from the car and threw him on the roadside. Nitish took Harsukh to a hospital in Keshod to throw the police off his scent, while a go pal to the hospital. both died at a Rajkot government hospital— go pal on february 11, 2017, and harsukh on february 17,2017.
Based on Harsukh’s complaint, an FIR was lodged at K es hod police station on february 9, 2017. Between February and May 2017, five men, including Ni tish, ra j par iandm ah end ra sinh, were arrested. All five are out on bail. On June 5, 2017, the couple was arrested by UK officials after an Interpol red-corner notice was issued at India’s behest for their alleged involvement in the murders.digjaja di a said ,“ex tradition proceedings to India were initiated, but they won an appeal in the UK against their extradition.”
The couple would later be arrested twice for smuggling drugs from the UK to Australia — in June 2021 and then in February 2023.
Meanwhile in Keshod, Mahendrasinh, who retired in March 2017, refused to speak to The Indian Express. A close relative said the family believes that ni ti sh “trapped” the couple since they did not help him get a UK visa.
Back in Malia, Alpa’s house does not have any photos of the family members who died in a span of around a decade — her first husband la lit, ha rsukh,g opal and her father-in-law. “They upset my mother-in-law (Rasila), so I packed them away,” she says.
R as ila ,69, claims her husband could not bear the shock of losing three young family members. she says, “Three persons who would have carried his body died before him. How could he have continued to live after that?”