The senior official of the Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar police told PTI, “We will help the Delhi police in connection with the Shraddha Walkar murder case if they need any help or approach us for assistance.” Poonawala (28) has been arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly murdering Walkar, who had stayed in Vasai, in May this year, chopping the body into 35 pieces before dumping them at different places in the national capital over several days.
“After registering a missing complaint (filed by her father), we have forwarded all details to the Delhi police. If they (Delhi cops) approach us, we will provide them all possible help,” said the official. “Accused Poonawala’s family members left their Vasai-based flat around 15 days back and we don’t have any knowledge about them. How can we call them for interrogation as nothing has happen in our jurisdiction,” he said.
The Vasai police in Palghar district have already interrogated the accused in the Walkar missing case, said the official. “However, we are keeping a close tab on developments in the murder case,” he added.
As per the police in Vasai town, Walkar, a graduate in mass media, worked at a call centre in the Malad area of Mumbai and met Poonawala through a dating app in 2019. A friend of the woman, who had alerted her family members after being unable to contact her, said, “Once Walkar (when she was living in Vasai) had messaged me and asked me to come and take her or else Aaftab would kill her.”
The Delhi police on Tuesday took Poonawala to forested areas of south Delhi’s Chhatarpur where he had allegedly dumped Walkar’s body parts after killing her. Walkar and Poonawala were in a live-in relationship and they shifted to Delhi after a mutual understanding to work together. However, a motive behind the gruesome murder was not yet known.
