The Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnapping case (also known as the Ranga-Billa case) was a kidnapping and murder crime in New Delhi in 1978. It involved the kidnapping and subsequent murder of siblings Geeta and Sanjay by Kuljeet Singh (alias Ranga Khus) and Jasbir Singh (alias Billa). Although the children were kidnapped for ransom, they were killed after the kidnappers learned that their father was a naval officer, on the assumption that he was not wealthy. Both men initially admitted to raping Geeta before her murder. They later retracted their statements, and forensic evidence could not confirm the rape. Upon circumstantial evidence including evidence that Geeta had been stripped naked, it was later confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that rape was committed. The two kidnappers were convicted and sentenced to death. The execution was carried out in 1982. Crime Patrol Dial 100 aired two episodes on Sony TV based on the story, 723 and 724, on 28 February 2018 and 1 March 2018. The case was also shown on the TV series Bhanwar, the 2025 Netflix series Black Warrant and the 2026 series Raakh, on Amazon Prime Video.
Kidnapping
Geeta Chopra was a 16½-year-old 2nd year student in the Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi. Her brother, Sanjay, was a 14-year-old student in the 10th standard of the Modern School. Their father, Madan Mohan Chopra, was a captain in the Indian Navy. They lived in the Officer's Enclave in Dhaula Kuan.
On Saturday 26 August 1978, Geeta and Sanjay were supposed to participate in a radio programme called the Yuva Vani on All India Radio. They were to reach the All India Radio office on the Sansad Marg by 7 pm. Their father was supposed to pick them up outside the All India Radio after the programme at 9 pm.
The siblings left their house at 6:15 pm. A man, Kula Nand, saw them at the roundabout at Dhaula Kuan. Another person, M. S. Nanda, who was a witness in the case, gave the children a lift from Dhaula Kuan to Gole Dak Khana as it was drizzling.
At 6:30 pm, Bhagwan Dass had noticed a mustard colour Fiat car, while travelling from Gurudwara Bangla Sahib towards North Avenue, near the yoga ashram at Gole Dak Khana. He heard noises coming from the car, so he stopped his scooter and approached the vehicle. He saw a girl pulling the hair of the driver and a boy fighting the passenger by the driver. Dass could not stop the car, and it sped away towards Willingdon Hospital. Several other people had tried to stop the car. One man named Babu Lal dropped his bicycle and tried to grab the door handle of the car, but failed. Dass reported this to the police. At 6:45 pm, he called the police control room and told them the license number of the car as HRK 8930, but it was noted by the operator as MRK 8930. Dass also reported that the girl was screaming for help.
Inderjeet Singh, a junior engineer in the Delhi Development Authority returning home from work on his scooter, saw the car on Baba Kharak Singh Marg near the casualty block of the Willingdon Hospital. He noticed a girl and a boy sitting in the rear struggling with the driver and another man. He drove up and lined up with the running car. The boy, Sanjay, showed his bleeding shoulder to Inderjeet Singh and waved his hands at him, pleading for help. Inderjeet followed the car onto Shankar Road. But he lost the car when it jumped a red light at a traffic crossing at 6:45 pm. Inderjeet noted the correct number of the car and reported it to Rajendra Nagar. The police were slow in their reaction as they considered it a cognisable offence and that it was outside their jurisdiction as they could not proceed without taking permission from the Meerut High Court.
At 8 pm, their parents tuned in to the radio to listen to their children on the programme, but another girl had been given the slot. The parents assumed that they had tuned in to the wrong station or that the programme had been cancelled. Their father took his scooter from home at 8:45 pm to reach the radio office. He did not find his children at the appointed place. He was told at the office that the children did not arrive. The father called home to ask if the children had reached home; their mother replied in the negative. Their father returned home and called his relatives and friends to ask if the children were with them.
At 10:15 pm, the kidnappers went to the Willingdon Hospital in a car with the number DHI 280, as one of them, Billa, had acquired a cut on his head. The hospital had taken a skiagraph of his skull. One of them left a fingerprint on the skiagraph, which matched perfectly with the culprit after he was apprehended. On being asked, they gave the doctors false names and said they were hurt by some thieves. The constable on duty at the hospital, Ranbir Singh, took their statement in which they said they were attacked near the Kali Mandir on Bangla Sahib road, their watch was stolen, and the injury was from an iron rod. Ranbir Singh informed the Mandir Marg police station. At 10:50 pm, two policemen dispatched from the Mandir Marg station to further question them arrived at the hospital.
At 11:10 pm, the two decided to leave against the doctors' advice. The two policemen, Sub-Inspector Ram Chander and Constable Harish Ram, asked them to accompany them to the spot where they were supposedly robbed. They took them to the spot in their car. Chander failed to find signs of struggle. They asked the duo to take them back to the station. At 1:45 am, they left the station, but they were asked to report again in the morning. When they did not, Chander went to their addresses, but found them to be false. Chander inquired with the Regional Transport Office and found the vehicle number belonged to a scooter.
Investigation and media attention The police control room forwarded the report from Dass to Mandir Marg police station. The report was given to sub-inspector Om Prakash at 7:05 pm. He went to the Gole Dak Khana to search for witnesses but could not find any. He returned to the station at 9:55 pm. Inderjeet's report had invoked no response. At 10:15 pm, the father called the police and gave them the descriptions of the children. The father searched places where the children might have possibly gone to, including the Willingdon Hospital and returned home at 11:30 pm.
The bodies were discovered by a cowherd, Mohan Das, grazing his cows in Delhi Ridge on 28 August 1978, at 6 pm. The cowherd reported the bodies to a patrolling constable, Rohtas Singh, at 12:00 am. Sub-inspector Hari Chand was sent to the site. The parents were called to the site to identify the bodies. They identified them as their children.
The autopsy was conducted by the police surgeon, Bharat Singh, on 29 August. He found the bodies to be in an advanced stage of decomposition. He could not establish sexual assault of Geeta due to the advanced decomposition of her body. He found multiple stab wounds and a broken jaw on Geeta. He confirmed multiple stab wounds on Sanjay.
The father decided to go to the media. Some newspapers carried photographs. On seeing such news, M. S. Nanda gave his statement. The police, in the course of their investigation, suspected the duo to be involved. They released the photos to the press, and a monetary reward was announced. The Mumbai Police was informed.
On 31 August, a car matching the kidnapping vehicle was found in Majlis Park with the number DHD 7034. A car had been reported missing of the same make, but with the number DEA 1221, so the police called the owner, Ashok Sharma. The car had been stolen from outside the Ashoka Hotel within six weeks of its purchase. Sharma was able to open the car with his keys. The stereo and speakers were missing. The car's white grille had been replaced with a black one. Two witnesses who lived in the area later said they had seen a man driving the car, and he had asked them for directions.
The car was examined by investigators from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. Several fingerprints were obtained from the car. A cigarette butt and hair samples were found and taken. Bloodstains were discovered. Plates with the numbers DEA 1221, HRF 5411, and HRK 8930 were found in the car. In the lab, it was found that one of the plates originally had the number DHI 280, but it had been painted over. Similarly, another number, DHD 3548, was found. Some soil samples taken from the floor mat matched the soil samples from the site where the bodies were found.
The story got much media attention in India. Then-Prime Minister Morarji Desai took personal interest in the case. The Janata Party, which was in power in Delhi in 1978, was criticised for their handling of the case. They lost the subsequent election.
Arrest and interrogation The kidnappers were arrested on a train a few days later on 8 September 1978. On that day, the two kidnappers boarded the Kalka Mail when it had slowed near the Yamuna river bridge near Agra. The compartment they entered was reserved for military personnel, so they were asked to show their identity cards. They started a scuffle with the army-men and were suppressed. Lance Naik A. V. Shetty recognised them from a newspaper picture. On 9 September 1978, they were handed over to Inspector V. P. Gupta at the New Delhi railway station. They were held in separate non-adjoining cells.
On searching their bags, the police found a sword. Their clothes were found to have bloodstains. The doctor examining them found bruises on their arms and bodies, some of which were recent from a scuffle. The doctor found the sutures on Billa's head and estimated it to be 15 days old. A wound on Ranga's forearm was found to be 15 days old. Fingerprints, saliva, blood and hair samples were taken on 12 September. On 13 September, on Billa's directions, they were driven separately to Agra, where the police recovered a sword from a rented room in Sita Nagar where they were staying.
Trial
Confessions On 22 September, Ranga made a voluntary confession which was recorded by a metropolitan magistrate, but the statement was later retracted on 20 November. On 19 October, Billa gave a similar confession, but retracted it on 27 October. Both confessions included accounts of rape. Billa was noted to be "having sadistic pleasure while recalling the situation" as he had "started laughing after describing the ghastly killing of Sanjay". The confessions were later held to be independent as they had been kept in non-adjoining cells.
Evidence The hair found in the car and on Sanjay's body matched that of Ranga. His fingerprints were found in the car. The bloodstains on his shirt belonged to blood group AB, which was a match with the siblings. Billa's hair was found on the body of Geeta, and blood matching his blood group A was found in the car. Blood of group AB was found on his clothes. The signature at the Willingdon Hospital matched that of Billa. The skiagrams of the skulls matched.
Geeta's body was in an advanced stage of decomposition at the point of her autopsy. Although this made it difficult to ascertain penetration, there was no doubt that she was stripped naked. When she left her house, she was wearing her brassiere and underwear. Geeta's dead body did not have these undergarments. In these circumstances, the court found that the initial retracted confessions on rape were, beyond a reasonable doubt, true.
The court did not ascertain whether it was Ranga or Billa who conducted the physical act of the murder(s) as the accounts they were relying on were only those of the two criminals themselves, which had been repeatedly found to be false. The court found the matter of determining the same of no particular significance.
Defence and alibi Both men pleaded not guilty.