Preeti Rathi acid attack case: Crime Branch caught killer in his web of lies

Crime Branch cops suspected Ankur Panwar might be the real killer when they saw the burn injuries on his face and handsIf Preeti Rathirsquos family and the Mumbai Crime Branch had not taken action Pawan Gahlan 27 might have had to spend a lot more time in prison for a crime that he never committed It was the Bandra GRP that had arrested Pawan but the Mumbai Crime Branch eventually proved that the real killer was not him but Ankur PanwarThe GRP which had falsely accused Pawan of flinging acid on Preeti claimed that the victim had named him in her dying declaration However she had also named two others including the real killer Ankur who was never investigated properly by the Bandra GRPIn August 2013 Preeti Rathirsquos family filed an application in court requesting that the investigation should be handed over to the Mumbai Crime Branch instead In their application the Rathi family claimed that Pawan had nothing to do with their daughterrsquos murder In November 2013 the case got transferred to the Crime Branch and a Special Investigations Team SIT was formed on the instructions of the courtSIT probe beginsThe SIT decided to scan all three suspects named by Preeti all of whom used to stay in the same society as Preeti at the Bhakra Bias Management Board Colony in Narela New Delhi The first suspect was Pawan whom the Rathis thought was innocent The second suspect was the boyfriend of Preetirsquos friend Preeti had suspected him since she had once informed her friendrsquos family about himAlso Read Preeti Rathis death was an honour killing alleges Ankur PanwarldquoWe questioned the second suspect but after thorough interrogations he turned out to be innocent The family claimed that the third suspect Ankur was in Haridwar where he was working in a threestar hotel Without raising any suspicion in front of the family we just asked them to inform us when he would return to the city and stationed ourselves at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhirdquo said Inspector Ashok Khot who was in the SITIn the first week of January 2014 Ankur visited his hometown to collect some certificates On the second day of his visit Ankurrsquos mother took him to Maharashtra Sadan on the instructions of the SIT officialsInspector Vijay Dhamal another officer who was in the SIT told midday ldquoOn questioning him Ankur told us that on the day of the acid attack he was in Haridwar in the first half of the day and then went to Rajasthan to attend a family function He claimed he had gone to Haridwar to submit his CV for a job at Hotel ResidencyrdquoSuspicionBut the cops suspected Ankur was not telling the truth because he had some burn injuries on his hands and face which he had tried to cover up The police suspected these burns might have been sustained during the acid attackRead Story Preeti Rathi acid attack case Timeline of eventsldquoHe covered injuries on his face with a cap and also tried to cover the injuries on hand with tattoosrdquo said DhamalThe SIT officials left for Haridwar to verify Ankurrsquos claims but on speaking to the staff at Hotel Residency they learnt that he had lied about his visit there They found the third important clue while browsing through cell tower locations The cops found a number that was registered in Ankurrsquos name and traced its location to prove that Ankur had carried the same SIM card while he followed Preeti from Delhi to Bandra Terminus