Aaftab initially wanted to burn face, not hack body, say police

Aaftab Poonawala used to leave the tap running while he cut up Shraddha Walkar’s body to drain the blood and drown out any sounds: Police

NEW DELHI: Aaftab Amin Poonawala initially planned to dispose of the body of his live-in partner, Shraddha Vikas Walkar, by burning her face with a blowtorch, investigators said on Thursday, citing the suspect’s statements during questioning.

Poonawala allegedly murdered Walkar on May 18 and chopped her body into at least 35 pieces for over two days, stored them in a refrigerator for nearly three months, and dumped them in places near Chhattarpur and Qutub Minar. Poonawala was arrested last Saturday, and the police have said that he has confessed to murdering Walkar.

“He said the original plan was not to chop the body. It isn’t clear what prompted him to chop his partner’s body and dispose it piece by piece over three months. He has not given any clear information about the weapon used to cut the body. He also claimed that he used a blowtorch. He has also mentioned that he used also used a lighter. Given his background in hotel management and internship in hotel kitchen, it is possible the he may have used a blowtorch. As of now there is no evidence to corroborate his statements,” said one officer privy to the interrogation details.

According to officers aware of Poonawala’s interrogation, he told police that he murdered Walkar at around 8-9pm on May 18 after a fight over expenses. One investigator said differences had cropped up between the couple since Walkar suspected Poonawala of having an affair.

“On the day of the murder the couple had fought over expenses in bringing their belongings from Maharashtra to Delhi. Initially, Poonawala had said that differences had emerged because Shraddha suspected him of having an affair,” one police officer, privy to the probe details said.

So far, the police have recovered 13 pieces of bones but they are yet to be linked to the victim through DNA analysis. The police are also yet to recover the weapon used by Poonawala to chop Walkar’s body. In the absence of any clinching evidence and in order to piece together the sequence of events, the police on Wednesday said that they will seek court’s permission to conduct a narco analysis test on the suspect.

Though the findings of a narco analysis are not admissible in court as evidence, officers said that interrogation during the test may provide them some fresh leads for investigation since the suspect has been giving contradictory details about the case.

Court date today

Poonawala will be produced in Saket Court on Thursday and police will seek further remand.

Meanwhile, police on Wednesday widened the search for the missing body parts in the wooded area around Chhattarpur and Qutub Minar. Officers visited the area with sniffer dogs on Wednesday and barricaded a large portion of the forested area to keep visitors away.

Officers, however, did not confirm if they have found more body parts or any other evidence after the search on Wednesday.

Photographs of surgical gloves in the couple’s flat were circulated on social media, with some sleuths claiming they were used by Poonawala while disposing of the body. But forensic laboratory officials, who visited the flat on November 11, 13 and 14, said, “Our officers must have left the gloves there. If it was case evidence, it would have been collected, preserved and given to the police.”

Later in the evening, a police team also visited the flat which has been locked since Saturday (after Poonawala’s arrest).

Poonawala and Walkar, originally from Vasai near Mumbai, were in a relationship and had moved to Delhi in May. Delhi Police have confirmed Poonawala murdered Walkar because she was forcing him to get married. The two were in a live-in relationship since 2019 and had come to Delhi after visiting Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Estranged from her family, who opposed her relationship with Poonawala, Walkar was murdered on May 18 but the incident came to light only when a friend informed Walkar’s father that he had not heard from her for at least two months.

A month-long probe by Mumbai and Delhi Police led investigators to the flat where Poonawala had allegedly murdered Walkar six months ago.