Aftab Amin Poonawala, accused to have murdered his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, being brought to the Mehrauli forest area, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The father of the Maharashtra girl, Shraddha Walker, who was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner, Aftab Poonawala, in the national capital, on Tuesday, Novembe 15, 2022, demanded a death penalty for the accused while also suspecting a “love jihad” angle behind the incident.
Speaking to ANI, Shraddha’s father, Vikas Walker said, “I suspected a love jihad angle. We demand the death penalty for Aftab. I trust Delhi Police and the probe moving in the right direction. Shraddha was close to her uncle and didn’t talk to me much. I was never in touch with Aftab. I lodged the first complaint in Mumbai’s Vasai.”
Delhi Police probe into the Shraddha Walker murder case has revealed that the accused Aftab Poonawalla was a food blogger who used to work at a call centre in the national capital. The police are now investigating if he had rented a flat in Delhi’s Chhatarpur area as part of a conspiracy to kill the victim. The police investigation has also revealed that the couple had frequent fights. According to police sources, before shifting to Delhi in 2022, the couple had come into a relationship in 2019. They stayed in Maharashtra for some time but used to visit various places as part of their travel plans.
Undated photo of Shraddha Walkar, who was allegedly strangled by her live-in partner Aftab Ameen Poonawala.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
Accused taken to the spot of evidence
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Tuesday, took the 28-year-old accused of killing his live-in partner to the jungle areas of south Delhi’s Chhatarpur where he had allegedly dumped her body parts.
A senior police official said the accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala will be taken to some other places in the city besides the Chhattarpur jungle area as part of their probe into the murder.
As Poonawala, his case covered with a white cloth, was taken to the wooded area, surrounded by police personnel, camera crews and journalists jostled with each other.
The ire over the gruesome killing seemed to spill over with a woman at the spot asking Poonawala if he was ashamed of his actions.
According to the police, they went to hill stations in March-April. Both of them had travelled to Himachal Pradesh for a few days in May and stayed together where they met a man who lived in Delhi’s Chhatarpur. As per reports, upon shifting to Delhi, they had initially stayed at the flat of the same man whom they met in Himachal. However, the stay did not change the situation between them. Later, Aftab rented a flat in Chhatarpur where he shifted with Shraddha. She was reportedly strangled to death on May 18 in the Chhatarpur flat.
The police have come to know that the room was taken on rent a few days before the murder.
“It is also a matter of investigation whether Aftab had already hatched a conspiracy to kill her,” the police sources said.
The accused told the police during interrogation that he used to take the pieces of the dead body to the disposal at 2:00 am due to the little movement of people at this hour. The police have come to know that the accused Aftab has done his graduation and lived in Mumbai with his family. “Looking at Aftab’s social media, it is known that he had also done food blogging for some time, although no video had come about his blogging for a long time. His last post came in the month of February, after which there was no activity on the profile. He has more than 28,000 followers on his Instagram,” the sources said.
According to the police, till some time back both Shraddha and Aftab used to work in the call centre. “It is learned that after the murder, Aftab used to come back home by 6-7 pm and then used to take the pieces of the dead body kept in the fridge there for disposal. The accused used to carry the pieces of the carcass in a black foil but had thrown the pieces out of the foil in the forest, making it difficult to ascertain if the pieces were thrown or the remains were due to animal hunting,” the sources said.
Delhi Police solved a six-month-old blind murder case, and arrested a man for allegedly killing his 28-year-old live-in partner, chopping her body into 35 pieces and disposing of them at different places in and around the national capital.
The accused identified as Aftab Amin Poonawalla (28), a resident of Mumbai, was caught on Saturday on the basis of the deceased’s father’s complaint and has been sent to police remand for five days, the police said on Monday.
