Chopped Shraddha's body into more than 17 pieces, Aftab confessed: Charge sheet
Darpan News Desk IANS, 07 Feb, 2023 12:26 PM
New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) Aftab Amin Poonawala, who accused of murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, had chopped her body into more than 17 pieces, as per his confession, the charge sheet filed by police in Saket court said.
According to the charge sheet, after killing Shraddha on May 18 last year, Poonawalla locked their rented accommodation at south Delhi's Chattarpur Pahari area at about 7.45 p.m and went to a nearby hardware shop where he bought a saw, three blades, a hammer and plastic clip.
"Thereafter I came back to the flat and shifted Shraddha's body into the bathroom where I cut her hands from the wrist with the help of the saw and kept them in white polythene... while cutting her wrist I also got minor cut on my left hand with saw," read his second statement given to investigators after he tried to mislead police.
"I placed the polythene containing both hands of Shraddha in the lower cabinet of the kitchen under the water tank," he told investigators.
Next day on May 19, 2022, Poonawalla bought a refrigerator for Rs 25,000, and the shopkeeper sent it to his address by evening of the same day.
"I had bought a fridge on May 19 (a day after Shraddha was killed) so that I may keep the remaining body parts of Shraddha in the refrigerator to prevent stench and decomposition," he confessed.
In the intervening night of May 19-20, 2022, he, at about 2 a.m., first disposed off the body's thigh in the jungle of Chattarpur Pahari situated at Mehrauli-Gurugram road near a red light.
"Over the next 4-5 days, I cut her body into 17 pieces - hands into six pieces, legs into six pieces, head, torso, two pieces of pelvic part and thumbs. I used to dispose of the body parts one by one as per my convenience," Poonawalla confessed.
He packed some of the body parts in a trash bag and kept the others in the freezer. To clean up the blood, he bought toilet cleaner, bleach, handwash, and other items from a shopping app Blinkit.
The chargesheet states that soon after killing Walkar, he came in contact with a girl through dating app Bumble and she even visited his flat and stayed at night several times.
"Whenever she used to visit my flat, I used to clean the refrigerator and used to put body parts of Sharddha in the lower cabinet of the kitchen," Poonawalla told police.
After her departure, he used to return the remaining body parts - the head, torso, both forearms - in the refrigerator.
Even after killing Walkar and dating a girl, Poonawalla kept on using Walkar's Instagram account which was logged onto from his phone. He texted her friend Laxman, posing as Walkar.
"On the day of the murder, I transferred Rs 54,000 from her mobile phone to my account twice. After that, I went to Mumbai in the first week of June to collect the goods from my rented house in Vasai. I came back to Delhi. When I was called by the Maharashtra Police to inquire about Shraddha, I dumped her phone," he stated in his confession.
On January 24, the police had filed the charge sheet in the case which contains over 6,000 pages.
On Tuesday, after taking cognisance of the charge sheet, the court posted the case for its scrutiny on February 21.
In a video doing rounds on social media, the men could be seen chasing the van carrying Aaftab and managing to open the van's rear door to find a policeman standing inside, in an apparent attempt to attack Aaftab.
According to Delhi Fire Service (DFS) Director Atul Garg, a call regarding fire at a shop was received around 9.20 p.m. on Thursday. "The fire was in the shop no 1868, near Gurudwara, in the Bhagirath Palace Market. So far 40 fire tenders have been rushed to the site and no causality has been reported," he said.
The CBI has chargesheeted Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Sameer Mahendru, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Gautham, and two government officers -- the then Deputy Commissioner of Excise Department Kuldeep Singh and then Assistant Commissioner of Excise Department Narender Singh. The charge sheet was filed before the Rouse Avenue Court.
New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora on Friday said he has written a letter to heads of all departments in this regard. In the letter, their consent has been sought to install solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the rooftops of the office buildings under the Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) Mode.
Rajwinder Singh, who fled Australia after the crime, was arrested by Delhi Police Special Cell earlier in the day. Toyah Cordingley was walking her dog on Wangetti Beach, 40 km north of Cairns in Queensland, when Singh killed her.
The CBI charge sheet named Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Sameer Mahendru, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Gautham, and two public servants -- then Deputy Commissioner in the Excise Department, Kuldeep Singh, and then Assistant Commissioner in the Excise Department, Narender Singh.
