New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday took Aftab Amin Poonawala, the 28-year-old accused of killing his live-in partner, to the forest area of south Delhi's Chhatarpur and spent nearly three hours to locate specific places where he had allegedly dumped her body parts. Delhi Police has recovered 13 body parts, believed to be of the woman, from different areas which will be sent for DNA analysis. It will be conducted by forensic experts, they said.
"The crime scene was recreated to understand and ascertain the sequence of events that led to the heinous crime and how he managed to locate the spots where different pieces could be dumped without inviting public glare," a senior police official said. The police is also likely to approach authorities at online dating app Bumble through which both the accused and victim met.
"We want to access his account to analyse his profile and know how many women he was in contact with and screen the chats to understand his psyche. Based on the profile analysis we will also be approaching those people with whom he was in contact with and invited them to the same residence where he had killed the woman," the official further said. Meanwhile, a Delhi doctor who treated Poonawalla, said the accused had visited him in May, the same month when Walkar was killed, for treating a wound.
Aftab took 20 days to dispose of the chopped body parts in bits and pieces in the local jungle in Delhi, said police who cracked the murder mystery following a complaint from the victim's father. The accused loaded a few pieces of body parts into a backpack each day in the wee hours and threw them in interior jungle.
It took two days for Aftab to cut the body into 35 pieces, police said. He took 20 days to dispose of the chopped parts by bits and pieces. A backpack was used to carry the body parts and he carried out the disposal in the jungle in the wee hours. Aftab met Shraddha on a dating app. Initially, they bonded very well but trouble started after they shifted to the house where the gruesome crime took place, police said.
The killer stayed connected on Shraddha's social media to avoid doubts among her friends and family members. For a while, he kept chopped body parts in deep freezer before disposing them at an unknown location in the jungle, police said. Shraddha along with Aftab shifted to the new rented house in Mehrauli in May but within a matter of days they broke into heated arguments.
In the police investigation, it is revealed that Aftab Poonawala murdered Shraddha on May 18 and then started preparations to dispose of the body. He took a leaf out of crime thriller movies, accordingly, used a saw to chop the victim's body and stored the severed parts in a freezer. Incidentally, Aftab had undergone some training in cutting meat as he studied degree in hotel management.
Also read: "She wanted to leave Aftab but..." Shraddha's friends narrate their side of story
The murder remained a mystery until the victim's father called Aftab and enquired about Shraddha's wellbeing. When Aftab said he broke ties with the victim, her father grew suspicious. After all his efforts to contact Shraddha failed, her father complained to the police.
Earlier in the day, Aftab Amin Poonawala was moved out of Mehrauli Police Station in Delhi and was taken to the spot in the jungle where he allegedly disposed off severed parts of the victim's body. The accused was charged with killing his his live-in partner Shraddha Walker and chopping her body into 35 pieces.
Delhi Police interrogation revealed that Aftab killed Shraddha on May 18 and later started planning for disposal of the body. He told police that he had read about human anatomy so that it could help him in chopping off the body. Police said that they have seized the electronic gadgets of Aftab and it will be checked thoroughly. After verifying gadgets and Google search history, police can establish Aftab's confession. Police interrogation also revealed that after murdering his live-in partner, Shraddha, Aftab had googled to know about methods to clean blood stains.
Meanwhile, Shraddha's father Vikas Walker said "We demand death penalty for Aftab. I trust Delhi Police and we believe that the probe id moving in right direction. Shraddha was close to her uncle, didn't talk to me much. I was never in touch with Aftab. I lodged the 1st complaint in Vasai."
Delhi Police solved a six-month-old murder mystery, and arrested the man for allegedly killing his 28-year-old live-in partner, chopping her body into 35 pieces and disposing them off at different places in and around the national capital. The accused was eventually identified as Aftab Amin Poonawalla (28), a resident of Mumbai. He was caught on Saturday on the basis of the complaint given by Shraddha's father and has been sent to police remand for five days, the police said on Monday.
Aftab and Shraddha met on a dating site and later moved in together at a rented accommodation in Chhatarpur. Delhi police received a complaint from Shraddha's father and registered an FIR on November 10. (With Agency Inputs)
