Before he was arrested by the Delhi Police for the alleged murder of his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, Aaftab Poonawala, 28, was questioned multiple times, including twice inside the police station, by the local police in Vasai in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. The Palghar police had to use all its tact to ensure that Poonawala did not get a wind of him being a suspect in the case until they could be sure of his involvement in the murder and inform Delhi Police about it. “We suspected his involvement but did not give him the impression as we did not have any evidence. Besides, no FIR had been filed. We also did not want him to suspect that we were grilling him because we feared he might sense something and go untraceable, or worse, harm himself,” said an official from Manikpur police station. What made the task of the Vasai police even more difficult was the “confidence” with which Poonawala answered their queries. “He was very confident while speaking with us. He looked bold and did not bat an eyelid throughout our questioning. He thought we will never be able to nab him,” Sampatrao Patil, a senior inspector at Manikpur police station, told The Indian Express on Wednesday. Poonawala was arrested last Saturday by Delhi Police for allegedly killing Walkar, 27, after a fight and sawing her body into over 30 pieces which he kept in a refrigerator at their shared rented accommodation in Mehrauli before dumping them over a period of two to three months at different spots, according to the police. Trouble began for Poonawala in September when Walkar’s friend Laxman Nadar contacted her father, prompting him to approach the Manikpur police station in Vasai with a missing persons complaint. The local police initially did not file the complaint citing jurisdiction issues as Walkar had gone missing from Delhi. Walkar’s father then went to a senior police officer from Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar (MBVV) following which the local cops took suo motu cognisance of the issue and filed a missing complaint in October. Manikpur police began their investigation by recording statements of Walkar’s family members and Nadar during the course of which Poonawala’s name came up. After this, they called for call data records (CDRs) to ascertain that Walkar was with Poonawala till the couple reached Delhi from Himachal Pradesh where they went for a trip in May. The police also found out that the couple befriended a person called Badri during their trip and stayed at his place for a few days somewhere near Delhi before moving into a new flat on rent in the national capital, where Walkar was allegedly murdered. “We called Poonawala from Delhi for questioning in the last week of October. He said after Walkar’s mother passed away (in 2020) she had become frustrated and picked fights with him over petty issues. He said she left him after a fight in May. He said she did not inform him where she was going. He then said she came back after a few days before leaving again, this time with all her belongings,” said a police official. The technical analysis of the couple’s phones, bank accounts, and Poonawala’s explanation of why Walkar left him and did not contact anyone raised a lot of questions. Patil said, “Walkar’s friend told us that Poonawala used to beat her; in 2021, her friends had even rescued her during one such instance. A few days later, she returned to him. So, it was hard for us to believe that she can leave his company in an unknown city and not go back. Further, Poonawala said she came home to take away her belongings but did not inform him where she was going, which was even more suspicious. We asked him as to why he didn’t convince her to stay back to which he had no answers.” Patil said it was difficult to believe Poonawala’s version because Walkar’s phone was switched off and, for two months, she did not contact her family or even her best friends whom she always turned to for help, guidance, and emotional support. “We told Poonawala that he was the last person seen with her and that we will not stop our pursuit of finding her. We just asked him one question repeatedly: ‘How is it that she did not contact you at all despite staying with you since 2019?’ Also, all other technical evidence was pointing towards him,” said Patil. Patil said even though police grew suspicious of Poonawala, they never gave him the impression that they were after him. They even allowed Poonawala to go home twice while they contacted Delhi Police to apprise them of the importance of the case. The third time Poonawala was called by the police was in Delhi where he was questioned by the Delhi police as well as a team from Manikpur police. After being confronted with the discrepancies in his statements and the evidence against him, Poonawala realised the police will not give up the chase to find Walkar and confessed to murdering her, said police.
