How 19-year-old Bhuj boy’s Goa ‘escapade’ uncovered family friend’s bid to hide a crime

As Ishan’s mother, Twinkle Singh Rajput, was already not in the city when Rahul committed the crime, the accused wanted to make it look like a theft had taken place after Ishan had left for Goa and there was nobody at the house, police said.

A day after Ishan and another 17-year-old were “rescued” by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad and handed over to their families who had accompanied the police from Kutch, the Bhuj ‘A’ Division police filed an FIR based on the complaint of Twinkle. They are now investigating a case of blackmail and extortion.

As per the FIR, seen by The Indian Express, complainant Twinkle, a 50-year-old whose husband passed away in January, stated that while she lives in Bhuj with her 19-year-old son (Ishan) who studies in Class 12, her 27-year-old daughter studies in a college in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. The complainant said that on July 16, she had gone to Lucknow and that she had kept all her jewellery and other valuables in the locker of their house before leaving.

Five days later, on July 21 morning, her daughter told her that she had received a call from her brother Ishan who said he had left for Goa and that they should not follow him if they did not want him to take an “adverse step”, the FIR states. Soon after, the complainant received a call from her “family friend”  Rahul, who is in his 20s, and she informed him that she was returning to Bhuj and asked him to pick her up at the airport.

Around 3.15 pm on July 21, the complainant landed in Bhuj where she was picked up by  Rahul. She said she sat in an SUV and Rahul drove her home. Rahul allegedly also told her that he had spoken to Ishan around 10 pm on July 20 and that Ishan told him that he was in Goa, but refused to share further details.

After Rahul dropped her home, Twinkle went to her room only to find her cupboard and locker open, allegedly with valuables worth around Rs 32.30 lakh missing. In her complaint, Twinkle also said that she initially thought that her son Ishan had fled with the valuables. She then went with Rahul to Bhuj ‘A’ Division police station where she informed the police about her missing son.

The police launched a probe. Soon, they found out that Ishan and another minor were in Ahmedabad and were likely on their way to Goa. Inspector A M Patel of Bhuj ‘A’ Division police called his batchmate, Inspector Mahendra Salhunke of Ahmedabad DCB, and sought help. The Crime Branch, with the help of technical surveillance, traced the two teens to a hotel in Ahmedabad.

Inspector Salhunke told The Indian Express, “After we received information about the boys from Bhuj police on Monday evening, we launched a technical surveillance and found that they were staying at a hotel. By the time we reached the hotel, they had checked out. However, we learnt that they were headed to the airport and were going to fly out of the city.”

The Crime Branch then informed the airport police and staffers about the boys and requested them not to allow the boys to board a flight. When Crime Branch officials and the airport police spotted the youths, they had already completed their luggage check-in process, but were eventually stopped from boarding a flight to Kolkata and handed over to the Bhuj police.

It was then that the complainant asked her son Ishan as to why he had run away from home.

Twinkle told the police, “Ishan told me that two months ago, he had consumed liquor and smoked cigarettes with Rahul and that the latter had thereafter shown him videos that he had taken of Ishan engaging in these vices. Ishan said Rahul had asked him to steal Rs 15 lakh from our house and give it to him threatening to share the video with me (Twinkle).”

As per the FIR, Ishan told his mother that on July 18, Rahul had visited Ishan at his house, threatened him with the videos again and obtained the location of the locker where the valuables were kept. He then allegedly tried to break open the locker, but failed. Rahul left after Ishan started crying, it stated.

Ishan further told his mother that on July 19 night, while he was playing video games with his two minor friends, Rahul arrived to threaten him again. After Rahul allegedly failed to break open the locker again, Rahul allegedly took Ishan to a key-maker near a mall to get a duplicate key made for the locker. To allay the key-maker’s suspicion, Rahul allegedly told him that Ishan was an officer at the Air Force base in Naliya and that he needed to submit some documents early in the morning, but those were inside a locker and they needed to access it immediately.

The FIR further stated that they got the key made around 12.15 am on July 20. Rahul then took the valuables from the house and left. The next day, Rahul met Ishan again and asked him to leave for Goa and stay there for a few days, promising that after the matter of theft subsides, he would call Ishan back, the FIR also stated.

Ishan said Rahul allegedly gave him and the two friends Rs 70,000 and booked a Goa package for them. However one of his minor friends refused to go, and thus only Ishan left with the other friend for Ahmedabad. They, however, missed their flight to Goa and stayed in a hotel in Ahmedabad, as instructed by Rahul, who also asked them to book another flight to Kolkata. Rahul also allegedly informed them that the police were looking for the two and asked them not to give away their location.

Before they could board the flight to Kolkata, they were caught..

Police Inspector Patel said, “Rahul Bhagwanji Solanki and Ravi Mohan Maheshwari were booked under BNS sections 308(5) (extortion), 351 (criminal intimidation), 61 (criminal conspiracy), and 46 (abettor present).”

Further investigation is underway.