Aaftab Poonawala confessed to killing Shraddha Walkar during interrogation of a Manikpur police officer, said Maharashtra police. He was giving evasive answers to the Delhi police as well, they added.
Poonawala, during interrogation, would answer questions while looking into the police's eyes to make them think he was telling the truth.
Here's how the case was cracked
Manikpur police were investigating a missing complaint registered by Shraddha Walkar's kin and they suspected Poonawala's involvement in the same.
Sachin Sanap, the investigating officer of the case, was in Delhi on November 8 since Walkar had disappeared from the city and also briefed Delhi police about the case.
Following this, Poonawala was brought in for interrogation. When he was being interrogated by Delhi police, he refused to budge or accept that he is involved in her.
Sachin Sanap was then asked by the Delhi counterpart to step in and while he was questioning Aaftab, he confessed to having killed Shraddha.
Sanap had interrogated him twice and the inspector was confident about Poonawala lying. During interrogation, he told Aaftab that he was the only suspect and that they know he's involved in her disappearance.
The police inspector told Aaftab that if he does not confess, he will not be spared; he had coordinated locations of the accused and the deceased.
Sanap grew suspicious of Poonawala when he told them that Shraddha had left the house on May 18 but a later transaction showed that Rs 54,000 was transferred to his account after she allegedly left Aaftab. During the transfer, the location of Shraddha's mobile was Poonawala's house.
Poonawala had made the transaction to keep up with facade that Shraddha is alive. He made the transfer in two transactions one of Rs 50,000 and the other of Rs 4,000.
Police sources said that Poonawala, when he first arrived, did not have any remorse. His body language displayed that he has done no wrong and answerred police's questions by looking them in the eyes.
Investigation started after the missing complaint
According to the police. Shraddha's father Vikas Walkar filed a missing complaint and the cops registered a case after biref discussion with senior officials.
After initial low-level probe, the case was forwarded to API Sanap of Manikpur Police. The cops, during probe, questioned Walkar's father, her friend Laxman Nadar and Poonawala. Their written statements were also recorded.
Both Vikas Walkar and Nadar stated that Aaftab used to beat up Shraddha and the accused said that she had started fighting with hom over petty issues since her mother's death in January 2020.
Poonawala told that on May 18, Shraddha had a fight with him, after which she left the house. But after four days she came back and took her things and left. Meanwhile, Shraddha's mobile was at the same location as their residence.
Manikpur senior police inspector Sampatrao Patil told that we had extracted the call details of both Shraddha and Poonawala, due to which the location of both of them was the same, but Poonawala was saying that she had left the house, that's why we got suspicious about him. The bank statement further countered his statement which clarified that Poonawala is lying.
Sampatrao Patil said that they became suspicious, and did not let Poonawalla realize this. "He thought that the police had believed in his words. Meanwhile, our team reached Delhi and along with Delhi Police verified the rest of the things," he added.
The family of Poonawala, who was living in Vasai 15 days ago, has shifted from there, the whereabouts of his family is not known at present. When we asked Sampatrao Patil about it, he said that he does not know where his family is at present, but they will be called when needed.
