On July 29th, 1981 the day of the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer my father, brother and I were in central London at my father's office on Fleet Street watching the procession. As we walked home to Putney my brother Vishal disappeared. He was eight years old. In 1982, Vishal's partial remains were found by pigeon shooters  (seven months after his disappearance) in a remote marshland at a farm in Rogate, near the Hampshire-West Sussex border.

In 2023, the BBC released a podcast, Vishal that details how Sussex Police mishandled new evidence and allegedly failed to follow up on leads promptly even during the period we believe that Vishal was still alive. As a result of this podcast and the emergence of new evidence, and the public pressure that has followed Sussex Police will re-examine my brother's case with a limited inquiry.

Based on evidence over 42 years we believe that Vishal's disappearance is linked to a wider child abuse network. New material uncovered by the team includes a document, titled Vishal, written in 1983 by a man convicted of child sexual offenses about a boy he was abusing.

The document was created a year after Vishal’s remains were found in woodland less than 5 miles from where the mother of this offender lived, in a property where he is known to have abused children. It has been held by Sussex police since the 1990s but was only connected to Vishal’s murder four years ago. The police had ample evidence to pursue this lead and two men within this child abuse network are living free today and remain a threat to children in the UK.  Police inaction has prolonged my family's agony for 42 years. We deserve closure and my brother deserves justice.

I  am asking for the entire case to be re-examined with every single piece of evidence taken into account. Every child deserves this. 

My father, mother and me in 1981 shortly after his disappearance 

I am pleading via this petition to the Commissioner for Children in the UK, Ms. Rachel De Souza, the Minister of Women and Children in India, Ms. Smriti Irani and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Turk to ensure that every aspect of my brothers case is re-examined and that at long last he receives the justice he and my family deserve. 

Thank you for all your support. 

For enquiries and tips from the public please email:  vishalmehrotrajustice@gmail.com