Shraddha murder case: Aftab’s family flees to unknown location, now untraceable

Mumbai: The family of Aftab Amin Poonawalla, an accused in the Shraddha Walker murder case, has fled to an unknown location and is now untraceable, Manikpur police (Palghar) said on Wednesday.

According to the police, Aftab’s family shifted to an unknown location without informing the police.
“When the Manikpur police took Aftab’s statement after calling him to Vasai, Aftab’s family shifted to an unknown place. Aftab’s family is not in contact with Manikpur police either,” the police told ANI.

The victim in the case, Shraddha Walker’s family had registered a missing complaint about her in PS Manikpur. Later, Aftab was called for questioning twice.

“Aftab stated that he and Shraddha don’t stay together anymore,” the sources said.

The police sources said that the family shifted without the knowledge of the police because they had an idea of the son’s activities.

“That’s why they shifted in haste without informing the police. Aftab also came home at the time of shifting. Aftab collected some of his belongings from the house. The family shifted only after the first summons issued by the Manikpur police,” the sources said.

The police had called Aftab for the second time on November 3, when the case came to light. The police officers from Manikpur Police station went to Delhi on November 8 in relation to the case.

On October 26, Manikpur police took Aftab’s statement for the first time, however, it was an oral one in which he only talked about Shraddha’s leaving after a quarrel.

While his written statement was taken on November 3, the police, during this summon had presented the paper documents, bank account details, and mobile phone location before the accused, to which he had no answer, according to the sources.

Aftab’s lie was exposed due to the online transactions that he did from Shraddha’s account to his own. He told the police that he knew Shraddha’s mobile phone password because of this he was able to transfer the amount of Rs 54,000.

According to the police, Aftab also used Shraddha’s ATM and credit card even after committing the crime.

Meanwhile, the accused in the horrific Shraddha Walker murder case, Aftab Amin Poonawalla who was arrested recently had attempted to dupe the police of Delhi and Maharashtra in the initial days of the investigation.

Aftab had tried to hide the murder of Shraddha by removing any physical evidence, however, he had left the digital evidence that the police traced to reach the truth of the case.

When Delhi Police initiated the investigation, Aftab had told the police that Shraddha had left the house on May 22 (Shraddha was killed on May 18), after a fight. He said that she had only carried her phone with herself and had left her belongings in his flat. He claimed that she was unreachable and he had not come in contact with her since then, according to the police sources.

However, the truth came to the fore when the police checked the phone call records of the couple and investigated their locations.

The biggest breakthrough the police got was the bank statement of the couple’s account which showed a transaction of Rs 54,000 from Shraddha’s net banking account app to Aftab’s account on May 26. The transaction exposed Aftab’s lies in which he had earlier said that Shraddha was unreachable after May 22 and he did not come in contact with her, the sources said.

The location of the bank transfer that took place on May 26 also turned out to be the Mehrauli police station area.

Besides this, on May 31 there was a chat with her friend from Shraddha’s Instagram account. When the police found out the location of Shraddha’s phone, it turned out to be in Delhi’s Mehrauli police station area.

Aftab could not answer the police question that if Shraddha had carried her phone along with herself, why was its location being traced to his house? It was at this moment that Aftab revealed the truth.

As the investigation proceeds further, the police may conduct Aftab’s NARCO analysis test, according to the sources.

The Manikpur Police sources said that when Shraddha’s family could not contact her due to her phone being switched off, they filed the missing complaint at the Manikpur police station. Following the complaint, Aftab was summoned to the Manikpur police station for questioning.

“Aftab Poonawalla was called twice for questioning, once last month and the second time on November 3. When Aftab was asked about Shraddha, he said that Shraddha had left the place where he lived. And they do not live together. Whenever Aftab was called for questioning, he never showed restlessness or nervousness on his face,” the Manikpur police sources said.

The Manikpur Police had recorded a two-page statement the second time he was called in for questioning, however, he had only one thing to say.

Earlier on Tuesday, the police sources told ANI that Aftab confessed that he had made up his mind to kill Shraddha over a week before the murder (May 18).

Meanwhile, Shraddha’s father on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for the accused while also suspecting ‘love jihad’ behind the incident.

Speaking to ANI, Shraddha’s father, Vikas Walker said, “I suspect love jihad. We demand that Aftab be sentenced to death. I have faith in the Delhi Police as the investigation is moving in the right direction. Shraddha was close to her uncle and didn’t talk to me much. I was never in touch with Aftab. I lodged the first complaint in the case at Vasai (Mumbai).”

“I had spoken to Shraddha last in 2021. I would ask her to tell me more about her live-in partner. But she didn’t say much. I did not know she had shifted to Delhi. Her friend told me she was in Delhi. I thought that she was in Bengaluru. Aftab had a lot of time to remove all the evidence,” Shraddha’s father said.