The year 2022 saw crime in all its goriest hues, from the Shraddha Walkar case, to one of spousal poisoning, to the loan shark apps. The year 2023 will see how quickly these cases will be heard
Shraddha Walkar and Aftab Poonawala
By Diwakar Sharma, Anurag Kamble, Faizan Khan, Samiullah Khan, Shirish Vaktania
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Shraddha Walkar murder case
Delhi police’s Special Investigating Team is going to file a charge sheet in the brutal murder of Vasai resident Shraddha Walkar. Walkar was killed by her live-in partner Aftab Poonawala in their rented flat in Delhi. Poonawala then chopped up her body in pieces and disposed of the pieces in Mehrauli and Gurugram forest areas. The case came to light after Walkar’s friend alerted her family that she had been out of reach since May. Her father filed a complaint with Manikpur police in Vasai, but the cops didn’t act promptly. Manikpur police eventually filed a case and got in touch with Delhi police. Delhi cops arrested Poonawala on November 10 after it was revealed that Walkar was killed. Poonawala has confessed to killing her. The probe has revealed that Walkar wanted to leave Poonawala as he would abuse and hit her. However, the couple went on a trip to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to make their relationship work. Thereafter, they moved to Delhi and rented a flat with the help of a person they had met in Himachal. Days after renting the flat, Poonawala murdered her. The police case was initially based on circumstantial evidence, but it changed after the DNA samples of the bones found in Mehrauli and Gurugram forests matched with Walkar’s father.
Action on Vasai cops
Manikpur police station in Vasai has come under scanner for delay in starting investigation into the missing complaint filed by Shraddha Walkar’s father
The DCP-level enquiry ordered by the state government against two police stations in Vasai could conclude this year. The state government ordered a departmental enquiry against Manikpur and Tulinj police stations regarding the Shraddha Walkar case. Manikpur cops came under the scanner for the delay in acting on the missing complaint filed by Walkar’s father. Her father also claimed that Walkar had, in 2020, filed a complaint with Tulinj police against Poonawala stating that he had threatened to kill her and chop up her body, but the cops did not investigate. The police, however, have claimed that Walkar had withdrawn the complaint, thus they did not have any reason to investigate.
PFI ban
An arrested PFI member outside CBD Belapur court in Navi Mumbai
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested more than 25 members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, is set to file a charge sheet in the case. The ATS arrested the accused during multiple raids after the Ministry of Home Affairs announced a ban on PFI. The ATS has alleged that the arrested accused conspired against India and were training people to wage a war against the government.
Also Read: A high-stakes year ahead for state politics
ED case vs Sanjay Raut
Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut was granted bail by a special court three months after his arrest
The ED, which had arrested Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray-led) spokesperson Sanjay Raut in connection with the Patra chawl scam, has moved the Bombay HC challenging a special court’s order granting bail to the Sena leader. The hearing is likely to continue this year. The special PMLA court, while granting bail to Raut three months after his arrest, had come down heavily on ED calling the arrest part of a witch hunt and pick-and-choose strategy. The special court had further said that it was a civil dispute but the ED presented it as a money laundering case.
Santacuruz slow poisoning case
Kamalkant Shah with Kajal Shah, who is accused of killing the former
Mumbai police Crime Branch Unit 9 is set to file the charge sheet in the murder case of Kamalkant Shah, a Santacruz businessman, who was allegedly slow-poisoned by his wife Kajal Shah and her paramour Hitesh Jain. Cops suspect that Kajal had used arsenic and thallium to slow-poison her husband. The police may also file another case against the couple for killing Shah’s mother using the same modus operandi.
Loan shark apps trial
Five accused arrested in connection with the loan apps case
The trial in the Chinese loan shark apps case is likely to begin this year. The Maharashtra and Mumbai cyber police arrested more than 30 accused in the case and also filed a charge sheet. The cops stated that Chinese nationals were behind the racket and that several call centres in Nepal were involved. Maharashtra Cyber has since written to Nepal police seeking details of call centres there which were busted following mid-day’s reports. The Nepal police’s report is likely to arrive here this year.
New Cyber Intelligence Unit
Maharashtra may get a Cyber Intelligence Unit this year as Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadanvis announced that the process to start a CIU was started to take on the rising number of cyber crimes. He also said that he would outsource the technology required for cops to speed up investigations.
Biggest drug haul
The trial in the biggest synthetic drug haul by Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC), where the agency seized MD worth Rs 5,000 crore, is likely to start this year. ANC arrested multiple accused including mastermind Premprkash Singh, a chemistry graduate with an MBA in finance. The case started with the seizure of a few grammes of MD from Govandi. The Worli unit under DCP Datta Nalawade handled the case and managed to crack one of the biggest MD hauls. The NCB also took Singh into custody to investigate international links.
Nawab Malik bail hearing
NCP spokesperson and former Cabinet minister Nawab Malik was arrested in connection with a money laundering case
The Bombay High Court is likely to continue hearing the bail application filed by NCP spokesperson and former Cabinet minister Nawab Malik this year. Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case related to Kurla’s Goawala compound. The agency has alleged that the former minister illegally usurped the property with the connivance of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Hasina Parkar. The ED case was based on the National Investigation Agency’s case against D Gang members. NIA claimed that D Gang members formed a special unit to target politician and business personnels in the country. It is pertinent to note that the NIA case did not mention Malik’s name. Malik had first filed a bail application before a special court, which was rejected. Thereafter he moved the HC, seeking bail on medical grounds.
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