London, May 16 (PTI) UK police detectives are re-examining the case of an 8-year-old Indian-origin schoolboy who went missing on his walk back home more than four decades ago.
Vishal Mehrotra vanished from south London on 29 July 1981, incidentally on the day of the royal wedding between King Charles and Diana, the late Princess of Wales.
Seven months later, his remains were found in woodland near the village of Rogate, West Sussex.
No one has been convicted of his murder so far.
Sussex Police said that senior detectives from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team met with Vishal’s father Vishambar Mehrotra last week to discuss a recent documentary and podcast series aired in the UK related to the historic case.
The sleuths also informed him that further inquiries are being carried out in this case.
Mehrotra has been campaigning ever since for a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to his son’s disappearance and killing.
“We acknowledge the ongoing distress to Mr. Mehrotra and Vishal’s wider family and their need to find answers to what happened to him in 1981,” said Sussex Police Detective Superintendent Mark Chapman.
“The force is committed to identifying those responsible for Vishal’s tragic death and to delivering justice for him and his family. Extensive police inquiries have been completed to date but we remain open to and welcome any new information, and officers will continue to follow-up on any reasonable and viable lines of inquiry,” he said.
The force also apologised for an “oversight” during an investigation conducted in the mid-1990s by Sussex Police, which had a potential link to Vishal’s death.
It concerned a document titled “Vishal” that was found as part of an investigation into the historic child sexual abuse at Muntham House School in West Sussex.
The document was found by police in 1996 and inquiries were carried out in the context of the Muntham House investigation, but it wasn’t until 2019 during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that any potential link was made to the murder of Vishal.
“Sussex Police apologised to Vishal’s father that this link was not made sooner,” the force said.
The police said it continues to assess further lines of inquiry for criminal investigation as a result of the recently broadcast Channel 4 documentary and a BBC podcast and made a public call for anyone with any information related to the case entitled Operation Moor.