Mumbai A Thane court on Saturday remanded 48-year-old Vipul Patel, one of four accused in a 19-year-old case involving the murder of a United States citizen in Mumbai, to 14 days judicial custody.
Patel was acquitted by a lower court in the 2003 murder of Leona Swiderski, a 33-year-old model. The state challenged the verdict and the Bombay high court (HC), which was hearing the appeal against Patel and Swiderski’s fiancé, Pragnesh Mahendrakumar Desai, issued a non bailable warrant against the two last year.
The police arrested Desai from Baroda last March, and the Interpol issued a red corner notice as Patel was found to have fled the country. Patel was apprehended in Prague last month and a four-member team, led by Amit Kale, Deputy Commissioner of Police 9DCP) Zone-1, brought Patel back to the city on Friday. He will be produced before the HC on Monday. Desai, who is currently out on bail, was accused of agreeing to pay Patel to kidnap and murder Swiderski. Patel, in turn, allegedly hired Altaf Gafoor Patel and Farooq Banarasi (who were never arrested) to commit the crime.
Patel however claimed that he is not involved in the murder. “I reside in England with my wife and child for the last 20 years and work as a plant engineer. I was in Prague for a day for some work. I am not involved in the murder and was not even in the city when the incident took place. I already went through lot of stress earlier but was acquitted as the police could not prove my involvement. I have also lost my job following the deportation,” Patel said.
Here’s a look at the sensational case.
On February 8, 2003, Desai (then 39) landed at Mumbai’s international airport with his fiancée, Leona Swiderski (33), an aspiring fashion model. Desai, a naturalized US citizen, lived in New Jersey, where he owned two convenience stores in Cliffside Park and Wood-Ridge, and owned stake in a restaurant in Manhattan.
However, shortly after landing, Desai approached the Sahar airport police and told them that his fiancé was missing. He told them that they were separated after he went to the washroom in the airport after alighting from their Air India flight. When he came out, he couldn’t find Swiderski anywhere.
The same day, at around 12.30 pm, the body of a Caucasian woman was found on a deserted stretch along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway. The Kashimira police registered it is as murder case, as autopsy revealed that the woman was strangulated.
When they discovered that a foreigner of matching description had been reported missing from the Mumbai airport, the Kashimira police immediately got in touch with Desai to come identify the body. Desai went to the station accompanied by a friend, Rashmikumar Kshatriya.
It was Kshatriya who told the police during interrogation that Desai was behind the murder and had hatched a conspiracy with Vipul Patel, a long-time friend from Baroda. Patel had hired two other Baroda residents — Altaf and Banarasi — he said. They killed Swiderski and disposed of her body, he alleged.
Kshatriya told the police that Desai and Swiderski had visited Baroda in January, and the conspiracy to have her killed was hatched before him.
According to Sanjay Hazare, senior police inspector Kashimira police station, who was one of the policemen who retrieved Patel from Prague, Altaf, Farooq and Patel were waiting in a blue Sedan in the parking lot of the airport. The couple came out of the arrival gate at about 3.30 am and proceeded to the parking lot. When Swiderski got into the car, a chloroform-laced handkerchief was placed on her mouth and she was later strangulated. Desai was dropped off at the arrival gate with his luggage, while the car left with the body inside. They dumped the body along the national highway, and one of the assailants removed Swiderski’s diamond ring.
Another case in the US
On May 5, 2003 — while their trial was pending before Thane sessions court — a New Jersey district court in the United States registered a complaint against Desai and Patel, charging them with one count of wire fraud for trying to gain one million dollars from Swiderski’s life insurance policy. The court issued a warrant for their arrest.
Two days later, the US embassy made a request to the external affairs ministry to provisionally arrest Desai for the purpose of his extradition to stand trial for the alleged insurance fraud. The embassy, on July 23, 2003, also submitted material to support their request for Desai’s extradition.
The US indictment, which was based on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe following Swiderski’s death, pointed out that Desai and Patel hatched a conspiracy to kill Swiderski in January 2003 when Desai bought two half-million-dollar life insurance policies for her (US$405 and US$425 each). The object of the conspiracy was to kill her on arrival in India and collect the insurance amount back in the US.
HT has seen a copy of the indictment.
The indictment added that according to the plan, on January 14, 2003, Desai met Patel in Baroda at Kshatriya’s residence (he is referred to in the indictment as RK), where it was decided that Desai would pay Patel ₹30 lakh to get Swiderski killed. Patel himself was to get ₹6.5 lakh of this amount. On January 28, he asked “RK” to pay sum of ₹10 lakh as partial payment for arranging the murder.
It further added that Desai had on January 29, 2003, purchased two tickets for Air India flight 144 from Newark to Mumbai and on February 4, he told Patel that they would reach Mumbai early in the morning on February 8.
Acquittal by Thane court
Back home, Desai and Patel were charged with conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence and put to trial in the Thane sessions court.
On September 26, 2003, the court acquitted both Desai and Patel for want of cogent evidence. The court refused to accept Kshatriya’s statement recorded before the magistrate as a valid piece of evidence and said that said that the special judicial magistrate failed to affirm that the witness was making a voluntary disclosure. Besides, Kshatriya revealed in his testimony before the trial court that he was detained at the Kashimira police station from February 8 (when he visited the police station with Desai) to February 15 (the day his statement was recorded).
“So, on the point of conspiracy to commit murder of Leona Swiderski, except the words of P. W. (Prosecution witness) 7 Namdeo Kirdat (the special judicial magistrate) and P.W. 9 Uttamrao Kadam (investigating officer of the case), there is no cogent, reliable, trustworthy and clinching evidence that has been brought on record,” the sessions court said and held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
As regards the actual murder, the court said the investigating officer had not collected any direct or circumstantial evidence to prove the charge of murder and destruction of evidence.
The trial court also discarded the seizure memorandum dated February 13, 2003, when the Kashimira police had seized two luggage bags and a shoulder bag from Patel’s residence in Baroda. Besides, the police also seized cash of ₹19.50 lakh in Indian and US currencies.
The court rejected the seizure memorandum primarily in view of contradictory timings mentioned— the police said they reached Baroda between 10 am to 10.30 am on February 13, but the Panchnama stated that they started at 8.35 am and concluded at 7.30 pm. The court said the timings mentioned in the memorandum gives a “lot of room for suspicion” and refused to take the document into consideration.
Desai was re-arrested on October 8 that year following the request for his extradition, but was released on bail two days later by the chief judicial magistrate at Thane. On October 23, the MEA issued an order under Section 5 of the Extradition Act, 1962 and accordingly Desai was again arrested on November 29, 2003 and detained in Tihar jail.
After his bail plea was rejected on December 19, 2003, Desai had moved the Delhi high court challenging his extradition, but this too was rejected on February 5, 2004. The Maharashtra government filed an appeal in the Bombay high court challenging Desai and Patel’s acquittal.
Thus, Desai remained in India and appeared before the Bombay HC for the appeal hearing. But Patel left the country in 2004. In February 2021, when the appeal came up for final hearing, the Bombay HC noticed that Patel had not appeared before the court and his lawyer, Nitin Sejpal, told the court that Patel had blocked his (lawyer’s) phone number.
Patel however claimed that there was no communication from his lawyer. “The number he tried was my old number. If I had been contacted through right means, I would have appeared before the court and this non-bailable warrant would not have been issued,” he said.
Taking serious view of the matter, HC had directed the state government to take steps to ensure Patel’s presence before the court for hearing of the appeal. Accordingly, in November, the state government informed the court that the police had requested the Centre to initiate proceedings for Patel’s extradition, as there was reliable information that he was residing in England. A red corner notice was issued by the Interpol and on January 24, 2022, the HC was informed that Patel was tracked in the Czech Republic. On February 21, 2022, advocate Hrishikesh Mundargi informed HC that Patel had surrendered before the Czech authorities in extradition proceedings against him.
(With inputs from Vinay Dalvi, Anamika Gharat and Charul Shah)