Delhi Crime: Aftab wanted to kill Shraddha 10 days before he actually did
The murder of Shraddha Walkar, 26, by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawalla, 28, in Delhi continues to shock India. More details reveal how Aftab was caught by the police and his state of mind when he committed the crime.
Aftab's lies about Shraddha's whereabouts, his and Shraddha's call records and phone location details are what ultimately helped the police nab him.
Latest updates on the case: Delhi Police has now received a nod from a Saket court to conduct a narco test on Aftab, given that he has not been cooperating with them.
- Dr Anil Kumar, who treated Aftab for a hand injury after the murder, is now a witness in the case. The doctor told the police and India Today that Aftab came to him with a knife cut on his forearm, and that he received 5-6 stitches for the same.
- Aftab claimed that the cut was from cutting fruits, said the doctor.
- Police have also found that Aftab chopped up Shraddha's body in the bathroom, and kept the shower on to make the task easier.
More than one dating app: Police suspect that Aftab was active on dating apps other than Bumble. Police are taking help of psychologists to try and crack the murder case, and look for a motive behind the killing.
It has surfaced that the major reason behind the fights between Shraddha and Aftab was suspicion, and marriage, say police sources. Aftab's electronic devices are being analysed and police hope Aftab's laptop will provide some clues. Several books have also been recovered from the Aftab's Chhatarpur flat.
Just days before Shraddha's death, on May 4, she had a chat with a friend on Instagram. Over DMs, Shraddha asked her friend for 'feedback' on her reel. The penultimate post on Shraddha's Instagram account is a reel she 'tried to make' ever made.
- After Shraddha Walkar's family registered a missing complaint in Maharashtra, Aftab was called in for questioning by the police twice, including on November 3.
- Aftab tried to mislead the Mumbai and Delhi police by telling them that he no longer stayed with Shraddha.
- He claimed that Shraddha left the house on May 22 after a fight and never returned. He also told the police that she only took her phone, never contacted him after, and left everything else behind.
- However, when the police looked up the call records of Aftab and Shraddha, they found details that didn't match Aftab's narration of events.
- Police found that on May 26, Rs 54,000 was transferred from Shraddha's net banking app to Aftab's account, even after he claimed that they weren't in contact after May 22.
- The location of the transfer was found in the Mehrauli police station area, near their Chhatarpur flat.
- Police also found records of a May 31 chat from Shraddha's Instagram account with one of her friends.
- The location of the chat also turned out to be the Mehrauli police station area.
- Aftab was unable to respond to the police's questions on why Shraddha's phone location showed Mehrauli when apparently she had left Aftab and their home in Chhatarpur.
- On further interrogation, Aftab told the truth to the police.
- Aftab's family remains untraceable as of now. The family reportedly moved from their Mumbai home 15 days ago and Aftab helped them with the shifting.
Police investigation: The police are yet to find Shraddha's skull. They have found 10 other body parts and they will be DNA tested.
- The police will take DNA samples of Shraddha's father Vikas Walkar, which will then be matched with the recovered body parts.
- Bloodstains were also found in the kitchen of Aftab and Shraddha's Chhatarpur apartment.
More details of the murder: *WARNING: GORY DETAILS*
- Shraddha Walkar and Aftab Amin Poonawalla left Mumbai and spent most of March and April in the hills before moving to Delhi's Chhatarpur apartment on May 15.
- Walkar was killed just 3 days after they moved into the new apartment.
- Aftab reportedly killed Shraddha in a fit of rage after they had one of their fights; over marriage.
- He beat her up, and then sat on Shraddha's chest and strangled her to death.
- Aftab told the police that he knew if he dumped the body as a whole, he would get caught; and so, he googled ways to dispose off a body without raising any suspicion.
- He reportedly got rid of the liver and intestines first.
Aftab had studied hotel management, and was trained as a chef. One of his courses was on meat chopping; and that knowledge came handy after he killed Shraddha.
Tried to kill Shraddha earlier: Aftab revealed to the police that he wanted to kill Shraddha a week before he actually did.
- That day too, Shraddha and Aftab had fought over marriage. But Aftab said that he did not kill her as she started crying.
- He also told the police that Shraddha would get angry at him whenever she saw him talking to someone over the phone, suspecting him of cheating on her.
- He also kept using Bumble and talking to other women during the time he was with Shraddha in Delhi.
[READ: 5 murders from Mumbai to Kolkata that shocked India before the Delhi crime]
Recap: Aftab Amin Poonawalla was arrested for killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in May 2022. The horrific crime came to light only after Shraddha's family reported her missing recently, after she failed to contact them over a long period of time.
- Aftab murdered Shraddha on May 18 and chopped her body into 35 pieces. He disposed off the body parts over 18 days in the Mehrauli forest in Delhi.
- He also purchased a new refrigerator to store the body parts. He even invited other women over to his apartment while Shraddha's body parts were in the freezer.
- Other gory details say that Aftab stored food in the fridge along with Shraddha body parts. He would also look at Shraddha's decapitated head stored in the fridge from time to time.
- Aftab and Shraddha met via the dating app Bumble in Mumbai in 2019 and had been living together since. They left Mumbai earlier this year, spending a month in the hills, before moving to Delhi in May.
- Shraddha was estranged from her family as they did not approve of her relationship with Aftab.
- She had lost most contact with her family after her mother passed away in 2020, but her father checked on her through her Instagram account. She was also regularly in touch with one of her friends, Laxman Nadar.
- It was Laxman Nadar who first raised alarm when Shraddha's phone was unreachable for several months. He approached Shraddha's father and then the latter filed a missing complaint with the Maharashtra police.
- Shraddha had confided in her friends in the past that Aftab would beat her up, and even said that sometimes she was scared for her life because of him.
What now: Aftab Poonawalla is currently in police custody. The police are yet to find Shraddha's mobile phone, or the murder weapon and the backpack that Aftab used to dispose of Shraddha's body parts.
One of the biggest challenges for the police at the moment is the reliability of Aftab's confession. Given that he has changed his statements several times in the past, the cops are worried he might do the same again. The investigation in the case is being supervised by Joint Commissioner of Police. Senior police officers of Delhi Police have also been looking at a change in strategy as far as the investigation is concerned.
Police will conduct a narco test on Aftab, after the Saket court's nod. They are likely to seek an extension of Aftab's custody.
- Of note: A narco test is used to make a case watertight. During a narco test, the subject is injected with sodium penthothal. It induces a hypnotic or sedated state, which neutralises the subject's imagination and the subject is then made to divulge information. A narco test, however, is not admissible in court.