Key pieces of puzzle elude investigators

NEW DELHI: The recovery of the tools used to dismember the body and a DNA confirmation that the remains found were indeed of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar will be key to convicting her partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala for her alleged murder, officials and experts said on Tuesday, describing the next steps of the investigation as a herculean task.

Police scoured a wooded area near Chhattarpur Pahadi for three hours on Tuesday, accompanied by Poonawala who was asked to guide them to the spots where he had dumped a sharpedged implement, possibly a hacksaw or a cleaver, and the parts of the body that it was used to dismember following the murder six months ago.

Jitendra Kumar Jha, one of the prosecution lawyers in the December 16 gang rape case said that recovery of the weapon will be vital to establish the chain of circumstantial evidences. “As per Evidence Act, if there is recovery of any vital information, including weapon of offence at the instance of the accused, then the statement of accused can be read as evidence against the accused,” Jha said.

“Also, if the weapon of offence is recovered at the instance of the accused and if through scientific evidence it is provided that the cutting and chopping is done by the same weapon, then nothing more is required to prove the accused guilty,” he said, adding that since there were no eyewitnesses, the circumstantial evidence will be crucial to get right. “Therefore, without recovery of weapon used in crime, it will be a herculean task for the prosecution to prove Poonawala guilty.”

No evidentiary value

Till now, the police are going on the statements made by Poonawala, but these have no evidentiary value. Even if Poonawala repeats these incriminating statements in front of a magistrate, these alone may not be enough for a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.

Jha said the confession statement will become a strong evidence only if the remains recovered at the instance of Poonawala are indeed proven to be of Walkar’s through DNA profiling.

Echoing similar views, a retired special commissioner of Delhi Police, who asked not to be named, said that till DNA reports are available, or the weapon of offence is recovered, police cannot claim any certainty on these. “It may be the remains of some other persons. So even if the remains have been recovered on the instance of accused, the police should not make any claims,” he said.

He said that it will be a tough task for the police and prosecution to prove the accused guilty without such proof. “To ensure conviction in the case, the police need more forensic and foolproof evidences,” he added.

Delhi Police on Tuesday said it had found 13 pieces of remains, which a preliminary analysis by a doctor showed to be of a human body. The investigating officials also said bloodstains had also been found from the two-room flat where Poonawala and Walkar lived, and where the latter is alleged to have been murdered.

These, however, now need to be certified by the Forensics Sciences Laboratory.

A senior official of Delhi police, who is monitoring the probe, said the remains will soon be sent “to the forensic science laboratory (FSL) to get its DNA matching from the father and brother of the deceased.”

“We took Aaftab (Poonawala) today (Tuesday) to the location where he reportedly threw the weapon. But even after being there for over three hours, we couldn’t trace the said weapon. The whole area has been put under surveillance so that further evidences cannot be destroyed by any means. The accused will be taken to different locations tomorrow too for further investigation in connection with the case,” he said.

“The phone of the accused has been seized and it will technically and forensically be examined,” he added.

Without recovery of weapon used in crime, it will be a Herculean task for the prosecution to prove Poonawala guilty. JITENDRA KUMAR JHA, lawyer