Geeta Chopra was a 16½-year-old 2nd year student in the Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi. Her brother, Sanjay, was 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 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. A man named M. S. Nanda gave the children a lift from Dhaula Kuan to Gole Dak Khana as it was drizzling. At 6:30 pm, one 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. 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 number of the car as HRK 8930, but it was noted by the operator as MRK 8930. Dass also reported that the girl was shouting 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 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 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 the Rajendra Nagar, Delhi. 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 the radio to listen to their programme but another girl had been given the slot. The parents assumed that they had tuned to the wrong station or the programme was 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. On being asked, he was told at the office, the children did not arrive. The father called home to ask if the children had reached home; their mother replied in 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 had gone to the Willingdon Hospital in a car with the number DHI 280, as one of them, Billa, had acquired a cut injury on his head. The hospital had taken a skiagraph of his skull. One of them left a fingerprint on the skiagraph. 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 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 doctor's 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.

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 search possible places where the children might have gone including the Willingdon Hospital and returned home at 11:30 pm.

The bodies were discovered by a cowherd, Dhani Ram, 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 the 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 advance stage of decomposition. He could not establish sexual assault of the girl due to the decomposition. He found multiple stab wounds and a broken jaw on the girl. He confirmed multiple stab wounds on the boy.

The father decided to go the media. Some newspaper carried photographs. On seeing such a newspaper, M. S. Nanda came and gave his statement. The police in course of their suspected the duo to be involved. They released the photos to the press and 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 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 black one. Two witness who lived in the area later said they 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 later found that one of the plate 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. Prime Minister Morarji Desai took personal interest in the case. The Janata Party which was in power in 1978 Delhi was criticised for their handling for the case. They lost the subsequent election.

The kidnappers were arrested on a train a few weeks 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 with bloodstains. The doctor examining them found bruises on their arms and bodies, some of which were recent from the scuffle. The doctor found the sutures on Billa's head and estimated that 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, Agra where they were staying.

Confessions

On 22 September, Ranga made a voluntary confession which was recorded by a metropolitan magistrate, but the statement was later retracted by him on 20 November. On 19 October, Billa gave a similar confession, but later retracted it on 27 October. The confession were later to held to be independent as they had been kept in non-adjoining cells.

Evidences

The hair found in the car and on the body of the boy matched that of Ranga. His fingerprint 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 the girl, 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.

Defence and alibi

They pleaded not guilty.

Billa claimed that he was in Bombay from 25 August to 1 September. He said he had acquired the head wound while trying to steal a car in Agripada, Bombay. Billa claimed he was forced to make a false confession. He said he was wanted by the Bombay police for false cases, so he had fled to Delhi with Ranga. They had come to Delhi on 15 August. On 18 August, they went to Panipat where Ranga's sister lived. On 25 August, left for Bombay. On