ISAPPEARANCE OF MARATHI ACTRESS

Kopri police now register kidnapping, robbery case

S Ahmed Ali TNN

January 7,2014
Mumbai: The Kopri police in Thane on Monday registered a kidnapping and robbery case against unknown persons following the disappearance of Marathi actress Alka Punewar (44) last week.
    TOI had on Monday highlighted how the cops were treating it as a missing person’s complaint. The Navi Mumbai police had done a similar mistake while probing the disappearance of Nerul resident Sandhya Singh. The police registered a case of kidnapping and murder only a month after her disappearance, when her skeletal remains were found.
    Thane police commissioner K P Raghuvanshi said a special team would get to the bottom of the case. Sources said the team, comprising a deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner of police, would report to the police commissioner.
    The Kopri police recorded the statement of Alka’s husband Sanjay on Monday. In a fresh
FIR, he alleged that somebody had kidnapped Alka on her way to Uran and stole her laptop, a gold mangalsutra, bangles and rings, and a SIM card along with amemory card, deputy commissioner of police Ramesh Bhurewar said.
    The police are examining the role of two persons believed to have been with her when she left a party at Uran organized by her theatre group. A police team has gone to Pune to track down a suspect, while another is questioning Alka’s theatre group.
    The police said Alka had divorced her first husband, with whom she had a 28-year-old daughter. She later fell in love with Punewar, a retired IAF officer, with whom she has twin boys. The car that fell into a valley was purchased by Punewar a few days before the accident.

The Kopri police suspect Marathi actress Alka Punewar was kidnapped and then killed