RAJKOT: The murder of a 12-year-old orphan boy,
Gopal Ajani
, on February 8 was the result of conspiracy hatched by a London-based NRI woman and two others to adopt the child first, insure him for a huge amount and then eliminate him to claim insurance.
Investigation by
Keshod police
revealed names of
NRI woman Aarti Dhir
(53) and Nitish Mund (27), both natives of Gurdaspur in Punjab, and Kanwaljit Raizada, a resident of Keshod. Nitish and Raizada were studying together in London and were sharing a room there. Aarti was their neighbour and works in a watch showroom. The trio had been hatching this conspiracy since 2015 when they met in London, said Ashok Tilva, police inspector.
On February 8, Gopal, Harsukh Patel (his elder sister's husband) and Nitish were returning to Maliya from Rajkot after his visa formalities. However, Nitish asked the driver, Mahadev, to stop the car midway on the pretext of vomiting. Harsukh also got down to relieve himself. In the meantime, two persons on a motorbike came near the car and tried to kidnap Gopal. Patel rushed to rescue him but one of the assailants stabbed him. The other person took Gopal on the bike and stabbed him too and both assailants fled. While Patel survived, Gopal died during treatment at the Rajkot civil hospital.
Nitish was arrested from his house in Ramnagar area of Rajkot on Monday night.Sources said both the assailants were from Rajkot and teams have been sent to nab them. Raizada was tasked with finding an orp haned child for adoption. Nitish had returned to India after his UK visa expired. Since Gopal was living in Maliya-Hatina, Raizada got in touch with Harsukh. After his parents died, Gopal grew up in their house. Aarti had also visited Keshod in July 2015.