A new podcast series from BBC Studios investigating the unsolved case of Vishal Mehrotra, an eight-year-old boy who was abducted and murdered in 1981, is launching 17 April.
The nine-part series titled Vishal follows an investigation that has been three years in the making. The show is hosted by Vishal’s 30-year-old half-brother Suchin Mehrotra and award-winning investigative reporter Colin Campbell, known for his work investigating child sexual abuse within the Church of England.
Throughout the series, the pair track down and question a former teacher and convicted paedophile, who fled the UK after being questioned by the police for child sexual abuse in the 1990s, and has been on the run for 25 years. They also discover that the UK police force have been aware of the teacher’s location, but decided not to tell the family or bring him back for questioning.
“The Vishal Mehrotra case is a heart-breaking tragedy, and it was essential to provide more answers to his family” said Campbell.
Consultants on the podcast series included two former senior police detectives that have been affected by the case, including television script consultant Jackie Malton - who worked on the case as a young Family Liaison Officer in the days after Vishal’s disappearance - and Shaun Keep, who was involved in the small team that convicted the people responsible for the teenager Stephen Lawrence’s murder after nearly 20 years.
The podcast comes on the heels of several recent investigative podcasts from the BBC which have recieved critical accliam, such as series two I’m Not A Monster on the real story of Shamima Begum with investigative journalist Josh Baker, and A Very British Cult with reporter Catrin Nye which investigates a life coaching company accused of taking over peoples’ lives.
