Post by hi224 on Dec 1, 2019 23:39:54 GMT
It was the beginning of March in 1980. 19-year-old Gautam Jaisinghani (sometimes spelled as Gautam Jai Singhani) was on his way home from college, accompanied by a friend (described in some sources as a cousin). Gautam was in his sophomore year at the prestigious St. Stephen's College in New Delhi, in the city-territory of Delhi, India. He was a native to the area, living with his parents in the upscale residential colony of Nizamuddin West, though he had previously studied at a boarding school in Nainital (about 300 km east.) He was well-liked by his peers and had many friends at school.
Gautam and his friend's routes home split at a certain bus stop, where Gautam would usually catch the bus to get home. His friend dropped him here and bid him farewell for the day. He did not know that Gautam would not board the bus, or that this would be the last time he would ever speak to Gautam.
He did not know that Gautam would never be seen alive again.
How exactly Gautam disappeared from the bus stop is unclear- Gautam's friend was the last person to see him, but the bus stop was crowded at the time and it's thought that people would have noticed if there had been a commotion. Gautam was the type to stand up for himself and likely would have resisted if somebody had tried to manhandle him. There were many people at the bus stop and if this had happened, people probably would have noticed- the fact that nobody seemed to have seen anything indicated to the police that he likely had been lured or convinced away in such a way that it did not seem unusual to anybody nearby. They have not ruled out the possibility that he was lured away by a female, possibly one known to him.
Gautam's parents were not initially concerned about their son's whereabouts, until the next day, March 7th, when they received a note saying that Gautam had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom. Alarmed, they reported their son missing, but the police were not concerned, reassuring his parents that the boy had probably ran off, and would return when he felt like it; they dismissed the note as fake. The Delhi police continued along this line, not investigating the disappearance until about two weeks later, when they received an anonymous phone call from somebody claiming to have details about Gautam.
According to the caller, Gautam had been carrying on a liaison with a mother and daughter staying in a guest house in the New Delhi district of Sundar Nagar. These two women were also having a liaison with a smuggler who owned a hotel in Bombay (now known as Mumbai.) The tipster said that Gautam had been killed, and that his body was in a certain place in Okhla Industrial Area on the outskirts of New Delhi. He additionally mentioned the fact that when the police would find Gautam's body, he would be wearing only one sock. The caller has never been traced.
Sources differ on what exactly happened after this. Some say the police searched the area, others say that a guard stumbled upon it. But what is certain is that on March 28, 1980, Gautam Jaisinghani's body was found about a kilometer away from the area mentioned by the caller. Gautam's body was found with his feet sticking out of a shallow grave- with a sock on only one foot.
The brutality of the murder was shocking; when an autopsy found that there was mud in his nose, throat, and ears, it became evident that Gautam had been buried alive. The cause of death was listed as suffocation. His killer had tied his arms behind his back so he would be unable to escape; though the fact that his feet were sticking out suggested he likely tried to dig himself out. The chest bone and some of the ribs on his left side were broken, suggesting he had been tortured before he was buried. The post-mortem indicated that he had likely been killed about two weeks before the discovery- during the same period which the police had been assuring his parents he had simply run away.
A ₹15,000 award was offered by both Gautam's father and the Delhi police, and the police interrogated more than 200 people not only within Delhi, but also in the neighboring states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, as well as the city of Bombay (now Mumbai.) Despite this, no other leads came forward. The police thought that jealousy may have been a motive for the murder, but no suspects have been named.
The Delhi police faced wide criticism, particularly from student organizations and members of Indian Parliament, for their inaction in investigating Gautam's initial disappearance as well as their failure to follow up on leads related to his murder; Gautam's case was considered as an example of a pattern of Delhi murder cases remaining unresolved. Some have postulated that the police were bribed not to investigate. The case was compared to the 1978 Ranga-Billa case, also in New Delhi, in which the two teenage Chopra siblings (16 year old Geeta and 14-year-old Sanjay) were kidnapped for ransom and then killed when the kidnappers found out that the children's father was a respected naval captain. That case was solved within the year, however, with their kidnappers (Kuljeet Singh, alias Ranga Khus, and Jasbir Singh, not related, alias Billa) being arrested and later hanged. Though their cases are not considered related, it is interesting to note that the Chopra's were actually relatives of the Jaisinghani's.
With all that being said, who could have killed Gautam Jaisinghani? Could it have been a ransom-kidnapping gone wrong, such as in the case of the Chopra children? And why would they have chosen such a brutal method? Or was it really a case of jealousy? Who was the person who called the Delhi police? Is there any hope that Gautam's case can still be solved after so many years?
Unfortunately, it is difficult to search through Indian newspaper archives online. I have found only a few contemporary sources which have been digitized, linked in my sources. I am aware that Gautam's case was fairly publicized at the time, but short of flying to Delhi and looking through local libraries' collections, there's not an easy way to access most articles about it. This is especially frustrating as the sources which have been digitized sometimes contradict each other. If anybody is able to locate more information on the case, please share it.
Sources:
India Today: April 1980 and August 1980
The Sunday Guardian
Criminally Listed
Rajya Sabha Archives
The Delhi Walla
Gautam and his friend's routes home split at a certain bus stop, where Gautam would usually catch the bus to get home. His friend dropped him here and bid him farewell for the day. He did not know that Gautam would not board the bus, or that this would be the last time he would ever speak to Gautam.
He did not know that Gautam would never be seen alive again.
How exactly Gautam disappeared from the bus stop is unclear- Gautam's friend was the last person to see him, but the bus stop was crowded at the time and it's thought that people would have noticed if there had been a commotion. Gautam was the type to stand up for himself and likely would have resisted if somebody had tried to manhandle him. There were many people at the bus stop and if this had happened, people probably would have noticed- the fact that nobody seemed to have seen anything indicated to the police that he likely had been lured or convinced away in such a way that it did not seem unusual to anybody nearby. They have not ruled out the possibility that he was lured away by a female, possibly one known to him.
Gautam's parents were not initially concerned about their son's whereabouts, until the next day, March 7th, when they received a note saying that Gautam had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom. Alarmed, they reported their son missing, but the police were not concerned, reassuring his parents that the boy had probably ran off, and would return when he felt like it; they dismissed the note as fake. The Delhi police continued along this line, not investigating the disappearance until about two weeks later, when they received an anonymous phone call from somebody claiming to have details about Gautam.
According to the caller, Gautam had been carrying on a liaison with a mother and daughter staying in a guest house in the New Delhi district of Sundar Nagar. These two women were also having a liaison with a smuggler who owned a hotel in Bombay (now known as Mumbai.) The tipster said that Gautam had been killed, and that his body was in a certain place in Okhla Industrial Area on the outskirts of New Delhi. He additionally mentioned the fact that when the police would find Gautam's body, he would be wearing only one sock. The caller has never been traced.
Sources differ on what exactly happened after this. Some say the police searched the area, others say that a guard stumbled upon it. But what is certain is that on March 28, 1980, Gautam Jaisinghani's body was found about a kilometer away from the area mentioned by the caller. Gautam's body was found with his feet sticking out of a shallow grave- with a sock on only one foot.
The brutality of the murder was shocking; when an autopsy found that there was mud in his nose, throat, and ears, it became evident that Gautam had been buried alive. The cause of death was listed as suffocation. His killer had tied his arms behind his back so he would be unable to escape; though the fact that his feet were sticking out suggested he likely tried to dig himself out. The chest bone and some of the ribs on his left side were broken, suggesting he had been tortured before he was buried. The post-mortem indicated that he had likely been killed about two weeks before the discovery- during the same period which the police had been assuring his parents he had simply run away.
A ₹15,000 award was offered by both Gautam's father and the Delhi police, and the police interrogated more than 200 people not only within Delhi, but also in the neighboring states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, as well as the city of Bombay (now Mumbai.) Despite this, no other leads came forward. The police thought that jealousy may have been a motive for the murder, but no suspects have been named.
The Delhi police faced wide criticism, particularly from student organizations and members of Indian Parliament, for their inaction in investigating Gautam's initial disappearance as well as their failure to follow up on leads related to his murder; Gautam's case was considered as an example of a pattern of Delhi murder cases remaining unresolved. Some have postulated that the police were bribed not to investigate. The case was compared to the 1978 Ranga-Billa case, also in New Delhi, in which the two teenage Chopra siblings (16 year old Geeta and 14-year-old Sanjay) were kidnapped for ransom and then killed when the kidnappers found out that the children's father was a respected naval captain. That case was solved within the year, however, with their kidnappers (Kuljeet Singh, alias Ranga Khus, and Jasbir Singh, not related, alias Billa) being arrested and later hanged. Though their cases are not considered related, it is interesting to note that the Chopra's were actually relatives of the Jaisinghani's.
With all that being said, who could have killed Gautam Jaisinghani? Could it have been a ransom-kidnapping gone wrong, such as in the case of the Chopra children? And why would they have chosen such a brutal method? Or was it really a case of jealousy? Who was the person who called the Delhi police? Is there any hope that Gautam's case can still be solved after so many years?
Unfortunately, it is difficult to search through Indian newspaper archives online. I have found only a few contemporary sources which have been digitized, linked in my sources. I am aware that Gautam's case was fairly publicized at the time, but short of flying to Delhi and looking through local libraries' collections, there's not an easy way to access most articles about it. This is especially frustrating as the sources which have been digitized sometimes contradict each other. If anybody is able to locate more information on the case, please share it.
Sources:
India Today: April 1980 and August 1980
The Sunday Guardian
Criminally Listed
Rajya Sabha Archives
The Delhi Walla