Crime and Criminals

Cops comb Khopoli valley for fresh leads on Marathi actor

Visit Palaspe Toll Naka For CCTV Images

S Ahmed Ali TNN

January 6, 2014
Mumbai: The police along with locals carried out a search for four hours on Friday in the vicinity of the valley in Khopoli where the mangled car of missing Marathi actor Alka Punewar was found last week.
    Later in the day, a team of the Khopoli police took Alka’s husband Sanjay to the Palaspe toll naka and checked the CCTV footage to find out if anybody was with the actor.
    The city crime branch is conducting a parallel investigation in the case.
    Alka, who was on her way to Pune for a theatre show, went missing after a party in Uran. Sanjay told the police that usually an unknown driver would drive Alka whenever she wanted to go out for shoots.
    The city crime branch suspects known persons killed or kidnapped Alka. The police are zeroing in on two cell numbers from which she was called in the morning on the day she disappeared.
    “We fail to understand what could be the reason for Alka to send an sms to her husband at 4.30 am in the morning asking him to send her one of her sons’ resume to an email address,” a city officer said. “Her call detail report shows she was near Palaspe toll naka when she sent the message; after that there is no communication.”
UNSOLVED DISAPPEARANCE Alka Sanjay Punewar (44) is a side actress who has acted in Hindi as well as in Marathi productions. She has worked in ‘Bawandar’, ‘Gadar’ and ‘Tujse Lagi Lagan’ and a few TV serials. Her husband, Sanjay, says she is more into theatre and stage shows. She has two twin sons and is a resident of Kopri in Thane Sanjay Punewar holds up a picture of his wife, Alka
STORY SO FAR Dec 27 | Sanjay drops Alka in their Maruti at Thane station. Half-anhour later, Alka calls to tell him her troupe driver has arrived and they have left for Uran for a shoot Dec 28 | In wee hours, Sanjay gets Alka’s sms about her son’s resume. Later, one Prashant calls up Punewars’ landline and asks whether Alka has reached home
Dec 29 | Khopoli police call up Alka’s brother Santosh Mishra, who is in Nagpur, to tell him their car has met with accident in Khopoli on Mumbai-Pune E-way. Mishra calls up Sanjay and leaves for city Dec 30 | Sanjay, Mishra and some friends go to Khopoli. Police show them car fallen in 900-feetdeep valley, but ask them to come next day as it is dark
Dec 31 | Sanjay along with some local policemen reach mangled car. Alka’s cellphone is found 100 metres away