Delhi Police call 3 persons to record statements in Mehrauli case

MUMBAI: A Delhi Police team called three persons in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Sunday to record their statements in connection with the case of murder of call centre employee Shraddha Walkar, an official said.

The process of recording the statements was underway at the Vasai crime branch office, he said.

The three persons knew Walkar, the official said without giving more details.

Walkar (27) was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in Delhi in May this year.

The Delhi Police team is in Manikpur in Palghar district's Vasai, which is the native area of the victim and where the couple had stayed before shifting to the national capital.

On Saturday, the Delhi Police team recorded statements of four persons in Palghar, including two men from whom Walkar had sought assistance after she was assaulted by Poonawala in 2020, officials earlier said.

The other two persons whose statements were recorded are a former manager of the call centre in Mumbai, where Shraddha was working, and her female friend.

The Delhi Police on Sunday conducted fresh searches across the national capital, including the forest areas of Chhattarpur and the locality where Poonawala and Walkar used to live, officials said.

The police have scaled up the searches in Mehrauli and at Poonawala's flat in a bid to recover remaining parts of Walkar's body and the murder weapon, as his custody remand expires on Tuesday.

Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his house in Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.

The Delhi Police had on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the case.

According to officials, after leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala had travelled to several locations, including Himachal Pradesh, and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips triggered Poonawala to kill his partner.