Crime Branch takes over probe into air hostess murder accused’s death

The police have recorded the statements of around six to seven inmates of the barrack as well as around five police guards of the 16 who were posted there, said a Crime Branch officer. Another police team, meanwhile, recorded the statements of Atwal’s family members

Mumbai: The probe into the custodial death of a housekeeping worker, Vikram Atwal, has been transferred from the Andheri police station to the Mumbai Crime Branch’s Unit 10. Atwal was arrested by the Powai police on September 4, a day after he allegedly killed an airhostess in her Marol flat, and died allegedly by suicide on September 8 in the police lockup.

Mumbai, India - Sep 04, 2023 : The Powai police on Monday morning arrested a cleaning staff of a housing society in Marol for allegedly murdering a trainee air hostess living in the building, in Mumbai, India, Monday, Sep 04, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

Crime Branch officials have started recording the statements of the 16 occupants of the lockup and the guards who were posted there. According to the police, there were around 16 CCTV cameras installed in the lockup, of which six were not working. There were over 20 accused in the Andheri general lockup: 16 of these were in Atwal’s barrack on the ground floor while the rest were on the first floor.

The police have recorded the statements of around six to seven inmates of the barrack as well as around five police guards of the 16 who were posted there, said a Crime Branch officer. Another police team, meanwhile, recorded the statements of Atwal’s family members.

Narrating the incident, a Crime Branch official said that Atwal was put in the general lockup at Andheri police station between 12.30 pm and 12.45 pm on Thursday, after the Powai police completed the process of interrogation. As per the statements of the other occupants of the barrack, Atwal went into the bathroom the next morning at around 6.50 am and did not come out for almost an hour. The incident came to light between 8.15 am and 8.30am after the shift of the prison guards changed.

After arriving on duty, the new guard began counting the inmates in the lockup and found one missing. He then checked the premises and found Atwal lying unconscious in the bathroom, where he had allegedly used his trousers to hang himself. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead before admission. The body was then sent to Cooper Hospital for a post-mortem, and his family was informed about his death.

A police officer who is part of the probe said they had been checking the sequence of events, including whether the medical examination was conducted or not before putting Atwal in the general lockup and if there were any lapses by the guards on duty. “The probe is at a very preliminary stage,” he said. “Things will become clearer once we record the statements of all the inmates of Atwal’s barrack. Apart from statements, we have also examined the technical evidence and recorded the opinions of doctors and experts.”

The crime

Atwal was on the cleaning staff of the NG Complex housing society in Marol, where the victim stayed with her sister and a friend. She had had many run-ins with him in the past over dereliction of duty. On September 3, she summoned him to her flat to clean a choked pipe in her bathroom. With full knowledge that she was alone at the time, Atwal went there armed with a sickle: the intention was to sexually assault and kill her, he confessed to the police after his arrest.

Soon after he entered the flat, Atwal and the victim got into another verbal spat. He attacked her but she managed to overpower him and even took away his weapon. Scared that she would complain, Atwal wrested the sickle from her and slit her throat. He then dragged the blood-soaked body to the bathroom and left the flat.

Meanwhile, the victim’s parents called her several times during the day, but on not getting any response, reached out to her friends. They rushed to her flat and had a security guard break open the front door to find the victim lying in a pool of blood inside.

The police formed eight teams to probe the murder and tracked down Atwal to his residence in Tunga village, Andheri. They found him in a blood-stained shirt with visible injury marks on his hands and face, indicating the prior scuffle between him and the deceased. He was arrested and on September 5 sent to three-day police custody, which ended on September 8.

The victim

The victim moved to Mumbai six months ago from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, and lived in the third-floor rented accommodation in NG Complex with her elder sister and a friend. At the time of the incident, she was alone in the apartment, as her sister and friend had left for their hometown three days earlier.

The accused

Atwal’s wife also works in the housekeeping department of the building. The couple has two daughters, one of them a teen.