Shraddha Walkar Murder: 13 Body Parts Found; Family Demands Death Penalty for Aaftab | What We Know So Far

Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who is accused of killing his live-in partner Shradha Walker, was taken to the forest area of south Delhi’s Chhatarpur on Tuesday to locate specific places where he had allegedly dumped her body parts. The 28-year-old accused, a trained chef, evaded detection for six months, was arrested early Saturday after details of the killing and its grisly aftermath came to light during his interrogation.

Poonawala and 29-year-old Walkar lived on the first floor of a building at Street Number 1 in Chhatarpur Pahadi area. The couple moved to the house in Mehrauli on May 15. On the 18th of that month, an argument broke out between them and Poonawala tried to shut her mouth with his hand. He later allegedly strangulated her, police said.

Here are the latest developments in the case:

• According to police officials, they are yet to find the murder weapon.
• Delhi Police has recovered 13 body parts, believed to be of the woman, from different areas which will be sent for DNA analysis, news agency PTI reported. The head is yet to be recovered.
• Delhi Police will now write to dating app Bumble to get details about Aaftab’s profile and those women who he may have met online. A senior police officer told CNN-News18 that Poonawala continued using the dating app, which had also become a sour point between him and his live-in partner leading to frequent fights and eventually to her murder.
• Supporters of BJP leader Ram Kadam staged a protest over the killing of Shraddha Walkar in Mumbai.
• Aaftab has confessed that he met several women and slept with them in the same house as Shraddha’s severed body remained in the refrigerator.
• Shraddha Walker’s father Vikas Walker has demanded death penalty for the accused who took inspiration from American crime drama ‘Dexter’ to commit the crime and kept it under the wraps for almost six months.
• Poonawala had told the police during investigation that he killed his live-in partner after a quarrel over marriage and the idea of chopping her body into 35 pieces was inspired by “Dexter”, an American crime TV series.
• Details of the killing and its grisly aftermath came to light during his interrogation last week following which Poonawala, a resident of Vasai in West Mumbai, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday.
• On November 8, Mumbai Police reported at Mehrauli police station regarding the missing woman. During the investigation, a raid was conducted at Poonawala’s residence and he was detained.
• On November 7, the Mumbai Police sent the case file to the Delhi Police. They said Poonawala was working at a call centre in Gurugram and was allegedly dating another woman.
• The complaint by the victim’s father alleged that Poonawala used to beat Walkar on several occasions and that she had informed her family about it earlier. After receiving the complaint, the Mumbai Police traced her last location to Delhi and also called Poonawala whose contradictory statements raised suspicion, prompting them to rope in Delhi Police.
• Walkar was not in touch with her family members after she moved in with Poonawala but used to chat with her friends on Instagram. After allegedly killing her, Poonawala used to impersonate Walkar on the app and chat with her friends until June 9. When her status remained inactive for long thereafter, her friends informed her family members, who in turn approached the police.
• After some googling, he chopped her body into pieces and bought a 300-litre fridge to store the parts. For 18 days, he went out around 2 am and disposed of the parts one by one, at different spots.
• Aaftab allegedly strangled his partner, Shraddha, on May 18 after a fight. “Around mid-May, the couple had an argument over marriage, which escalated and Poonawala killed her,” Ankit Chauhan, Additional DCP-I, South district, had said.
• After meeting through the online dating app in 2019, Poonawala and Walkar later started working for the same call centre in Mumbai and fell in love. But their families objected to the relationship as they belong to different faiths, prompting the couple to move to Mehrauli earlier this year.(With PTI inputs)

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