Vikas Walkar, the father of Shraddha Walkar whose brutal murder in 2022 had caused a nationwide sensation, died on Sunday at his residence in Vasai city of Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said.
Shraddha's father also demanded the case be fast-tracked and Poonawala hanged.
The father also testified about Poonawala's statement that after strangulation of the victim, he bought a saw, chopped off her wrists and put those in a trash bag.
The victim's father, Vikas Madan Walkar, was being cross-examined as a prosecution witness by accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala's counsel before additional sessions judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar.
Aaftab Amin Poonawala used to beat Shraddha Walkar and then apologise, persuading her to forgive the assaults, her brother testified on Thursday in a Delhi court which commenced recording the testimonies of witnesses in the sensational murder trial.
'An inquiry should also be conducted against the police officials of Vasai and Nalasopara and Tulinj police (in Palghar district) for delayed the investigation on Shraddha's complaint'
The Delhi police, which is probing the Shraddha Walkar murder case in which her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala allegedly strangulated her to death and chopped her body into 35 pieces, dumped it in the Chhatarpur area of the national capital, has taken DNA samples of Shraddha's father Vikas Walkar so that the dumped body parts and blood sample can be matched.
The police said that the charge sheet was filed on Tuesday under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC. Over 150 testimonies have been recorded, they said.
The doctor who treated the Mumbai girl, Shraddha Walkar, for acute shoulder and back pain in the year 2020, on Friday said that the accused Aaftab Poonawala accompanied her when she was brought to hospital.
"One common friend of Aaftab Poonawala and Shraddha Walkar has been called for questioning. This is the friend who had intimated Shraddha's father about her going incommunicado," the sources said.