Vishal Mehrotra was an 8-year-old boy who was abducted from Putney, London on 29 July 1981. Vishal's partial remains were discovered 25 February 1982 on an isolated farm in Sussex. The killers were never identified and no one has ever been charged with his murder.
Background
Vishal was born in India and the Mehrotra family came to the UK in 1978. Vishal's father, Vishambar Mehrotra, was a solicitor at the time of the disappearance and is now a retired magistrate. Vishal's mother, Aruba Mehrita, was estranged from her husband and lived in India at the time of the disappearance. The family lived on Holmbush Road, Putney, South London. Vishal was described as bright and independent. He travelled to his school in Queens Gate every day on his own.
Day of the disappearance
29 July 1981 was the day of the wedding of Charles and Diana. Vishal had been watching the royal wedding with his father, sister and grandmother. The family were walking home through the crowded streets and Vishal was walking ahead of his family. At East Putney tube station Vishal parted company with his family and went home alone while his sister and grandmother went shopping. The family last saw him cross the road near Carlton Drive.
Initial investigation
The initial police investigation involved searching the vicinity of the disappearance from the air with a thermal camera as well as ground searches of common land and the river Thames. Initially, it was thought that Vishal could have tried to travel to India and this line of inquiry was investigated by international police. Between the disappearance and the discovery of the body the police investigated hundreds of sightings and interviewed over 14,000 people.
Discovery of the body
On 25 February 1982 two men, who were shooting pigeons, discovered a skull, seven rib bones and a section of vertebrae at Alder Copse, Durleigh Marsh Farm, Rogate, near Petersfield. The bones appeared to have been disturbed by foxes and were found buried in a bog at a depth of around two feet. Following the discovery, a large scale excavation and search involving about 30 police officers took place. This uncovered more bones, though no clothing was found. The bones were taken to London for forensic investigation. Initially, police believed that the body had been buried around 29 July 1981.
Subsequent investigations
Police initially believed that Vishal may have been abducted by someone with local knowledge of the Durleigh Marsh Farm area. In March 2015, the BBC reported that the Metropolitan Police had referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission following allegations of corruption. In May 2015, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported that a 2005 Sussex Police review, by ex-detective Alwyn Evans, had been released to the paper following a FOI request. The review mentioned Sidney Cooke a number of times and showed that Cooke had begun to be linked with abductions in the early 1980s. Cooke was a fairground worker and the report revealed that there were two fairs in the area when Vishal vanished. The findings were apparently not acted upon. Roger Stoodley, who retired as the detective leading the Cooke gang investigation in 1992, stated that the disappearances of Vishal were in keeping with the gang's modus operandi. The gang were known to have abducted boys who they found walking on their own.
A few months after his son's disappearance, Vishambar Mehrotra said that he had been contacted by an unidentified man thought to be in his twenties. This man suggested that Vishal had been abducted, and that this event may be connected to a group of influential paedophiles associated with the Elm Guest House. The man stated that he had informed the police but they had not followed up his report. Vishambar gave a recording of the telephone conversation to detectives; however, they dismissed it as a prank call and it was not followed up. The location of Vishal's disappearance was less than a mile from the Elm Guest House. Mehrotra's murder was investigated as part of Operation Midland after Carl Beech told Metropolitan Police Service detectives that he had been abused by a VIP paedophile ring and he had seen them murder three boys. Beech's claims were false and it was found that he had used his work computer to search for and access newspaper articles which asked whether Mehrota's murder and Martin Allen's disappearance could be linked to the alleged paedophile ring before making the allegations. In July 2019, Beech was convicted of charges related to lying to police and he was jailed for 18 years.
