Police must quiz Aaftab’s family: Shraddha’s father

The father also blamed the officers of Tulinj and Manikpur police stations in Vasai of delaying their probe into Walkar’s disappearance, claiming that he had approached them on September 23, but his complaint was taken only in the first week of October

Shraddha Walkar’s estranged father on Friday called for the death penalty for Aaftab Poonawala, her boyfriend who is accused of murdering his daughter and chopping her body into 35 pieces, and blamed officers of two police stations in Maharashtra’s Vasai for the delay in probing his daughter’s disappearance.

Vikas Walkar, father of Shraddha Walkar, in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI)

Poonawala, 28, and Walkar, 27, had been living together in Vasai since 2019, which had caused friction between Walkar and her father Vikas, who was against their relationship. Two couple moved to a rented flat in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi in May this year, where, on May 18, Poonawala allegedly murdered Walkar on May 18, chopped up her body over the next two days, and then spent the next three months disposing of the pieces across south Delhi and Gurugram. He was arrested for Walkar’s murder on November 12.

On Friday, Walkar’s father Vikas said Poonawala should be given the death penalty.

“Aaftab Poonawala killed my daughter brutally, he should get a strict punishment. He should be hanged to death for killing my daughter,” Vikas said at a press conference in Mumbai, at which he was frequently prompted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya. He held the press meet soon after meeting Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Somaiya.

Vikas also urged the authorities to probe the role of Poonawala’s family in the alleged murder. “Poonawala’s parents knew a few things (about their son allegedly assaulting Walkar), but they never told me anything. Police should also thoroughly probe his parents and brother and ascertain if anyone else was involved in the murder,” he said.

The father also blamed the officers of Tulinj and Manikpur police stations in Vasai of delaying their probe into Walkar’s disappearance, claiming that he had approached them on September 23, but his complaint was taken only in the first week of October.

“Delhi Police and Vasai police probed the matter properly. However, due to the non-cooperation and negligence of Tulinj and Manikpur police stations in Vasai, I faced tremendous problems. Had they acted on time, my daughter would have been alive today,” he said.

Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar additional commissioner of police Shrikant Pathak said, “Police commissioner Sadanand Date has already given an order for a thorough review and inquiry of the entire murder case to check if there was any negligence on the part of the pollice. We have already initiated the inquiry and if anyone is found guilty of any lapses in performing his or her duty, then appropriate action would be taken.”

To be sure, Walkar’s alleged murder took place in May, and according to the Delhi Police first information report (FIR), her friend Lakshman Nadar told investigators that he had informed Vikas on September 15 that his daughter was missing. Going by this timeline, Vikas waited for around a week to approach the Vasai police with a missing person’s complaint.

The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) is likely to release the DNA report analysis of 13 decomposed bones and part of a jaw, retrieved on the basis of Poonawala’s confession during his 14-day police custody. A Delhi Police officer, on condition of anonymity, noted that if the bone samples do not match Walkar’s DNA, police only have circumstantial evidence to buttress their case against Poonawala.

Any claims Poonawala made during his police custody are inadmissible in court, as are the results of the narco analysis and polygraph test conducted on him.