Highlights
- Aftab's family is not in contact with Manikpur police
- The family had shifted only after first summon was issued to Aftab by the Manikpur police
- Aftab had also come home at the time of shifting and had collected some of his belongings
Shraddha murder case: In a new development with the gruesome Shraddha Walkar murder case, the family of accused Aftab Amin Poonawala has fled to an unknown location and is now untraceable. The development was confirmed by Manikpur police (Palghar) on Wednesday.
Police said the accused Aftab's family has 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 said.
The police sources said that the family shifted without the knowledge of the police because they had an idea of his activities.
"That's why they shifted in haste without informing the police. Aftab also came home at the time of shifting. He collected some of his belongings from the house. The family shifted only after the first summon was issued by the Manikpur police," the sources said.
How Aftab Poonawala confessed to killing Shraddha Walker
Aftab was called up for questioning after victim Shraddha Walker's family had registered a missing complaint about her at Police Station Manikpur.
"Aftab stated that he and Shraddha don't stay together anymore," the sources said.
The police then 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 leaving the flat after a quarrel.
He said that she had only carried her phone with herself and had left her belongings in his flat. Aftab claimed that she was unreachable and he had not come in contact with her since then, according to the police sources.
While his written statement was taken on November 3, the police, during this summon had presented paper documents, bank account details and mobile phone location, all belonging to victim Shraddha.
Aftab's lie was exposed with the help of online transactions he made from Shraddha's account to his own.
He told the police that he knew Shraddha's mobile phone password because of which he was able to transfer the amount of Rs 54,000 from her account to his own, on May 26.
Aftab had earlier stated Shraddha was unreachable after May 22 and he did not come in contact with her.
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 between Shraddha and her friend, from the victim'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 revealed the truth after Shraddha's mobile location was found to be from his place, even after he said Shraddha had carried her phone along with herself.
Earlier on Tuesday, the police sources said 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.
"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.
Also Read | Shraddha murder case: 'Planned to kill her a week before', accused Aftab tells cops
