Cops scanning FB to find clues in Atharva Shinde death case

MUMBAI: In a bid to find out what really happened to 20-year-old Atharva Shinde on the fateful night of May 7, the police is scanning the social networking profiles of over two dozen guests at the party from which he disappeared, and going through their Facebook and Instagram feeds and stories.

Despite the police saying that the CCTV footage shows that Atharva was not involved in any fight at the bungalow, his father, Narendra Shinde, an Economic Offences Wing (EOW) official, has claimed that Atharva was part of a fight.

Sources close to the investigation said that after the youngsters who attended the party failed to give a clear account of how things unfolded on the night of May 7, the police started going through their social networking accounts in the hope that they might have uploaded pictures or videos that might shed some light on the events that led to Atharva’s murder. The Aarey police even roped in two cyber-experts to help them with the investigation.

On Friday, The Asian Age reported that the police found, on the basis of recorded statements, that Atharva was not part of any brawl that broke out and left the bungalow in an inebriated state. However, Narendra Shinde said, “I am very unhappy with the probe that the Aarey police is conducting and hence, I wrote to the commissioner of police, asking for the case to be transferred to a better team. Also, other youngsters at the party are narrating two different stories; one to me and the other to the police, which is why I want all of them to be placed under arrest.”

Soon after Atharva’s father expressed his displeasure with the probe, the Mumbai police transferred the case to crime branch unit 11.

A source from the crime branch said, “We will be re-recording the statements of those who attended the party, and will be looking at the case with a fresh pair of eyes so that there are no misses.”

Atharva, a student of a Pune-based college where he was studying sound engineering, came to Mumbai to attend a friend’s birthday party. He left his Thakur Complex residence in the afternoon of May 7 to go to the party being held at Royal Palms in Aarey Colony. The same night, Atharva texted his father saying that since it was very late, he would be returning the next morning. However, he never returned the next day.