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VishalAuthor: BBC Sounds
On 29th July 1981, while the eyes of the world are on London and captivated by the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, an eight-year-old boy disappears on his way home from the celebrations. Despite a huge police search he is never seen alive again. Seven months later his partial remains are discovered in a small patch of woodland in rural Sussex, many miles from home. Forty years on, and despite the emergence of new evidence, no-one has been brought to justice for the abduction and death of Vishal Mehrotra and the police appear to have exhausted all their leads. Then one day, as the world is going into lockdown in 2020, a BBC local reporter receives a secretive message from a person who has worked within the police they tell him theyve seen something extraordinary that could blow the case wide open. That call sets in motion an epic true story - an astonishing podcast investigation, three years in the making, that has consequences no-one could have imagined. As the team investigate they track down and question a convicted paedophile, a teacher who fled the UK while being questioned by police in relation to child sexual abuse in the 1990s and has been on the run across the world for over 25 years. Most shocking of all, the series discovers that a UK police force had been aware for years hed been at the address and had decided not to try to bring him back - while telling Vishals family that he hadnt been located.The disappearance of Vishal Mehrotra is a case that haunts our age: a case that has repeatedly fallen through the cracks over 40 years the cracks of our justice system, of our collective attention, of who we choose to listen to and who we dont. In this extraordinary podcast series, Vishals 30 year old half-brother Suchin Mehrotra and investigative reporter Colin Campbell set out to gather the pieces and try to get answers. What they uncover takes them deep into the disturbing underworld of what appears to be a completely separate crime - and send Language: en Genres: Personal Journals, Society & Culture, True Crime Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
Episode 10: Fresh Leads
Sunday, 8 October, 2023
After the series launches Colin is approached by people who say they have information – things noticed decades before and never forgotten. But 40 years on can these memories push the investigation forward? If you have been affected by child sexual abuse, help and support is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline