Aaftab gifted Walkar’s ring to ‘new girlfriend’

Delhi Police officers on Monday said that they have recovered a ring that belonged to Shraddha Walkar, along with some weapons that they suspect Aaftab Poonawala may have used to chop up her body after murdering her. Poonawala had gifted the ring to his new girlfriend, the officers said.

To be sure, the confirmation that the weapons and the crime are connected can be made only after forensic tests.

Poonawala, 28, is accused of strangling Walkar, 27, at their rented accommodation in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi on May 18, chopping her body into at least 35 pieces, and then dumping the body parts in forested areas in and around the Capital. He was arrested for Walkar’s murder on November 12. Police say that Poonawala confessed to the alleged crime, but their contention is not admissible in court unless backed by concrete proof.

According to officers probing the case, Poonawala, while chopping Walkar’s body, allegedly removed a ring from her finger.

Later, he matched with a Delhi-based psychologist on the dating app Bumble, and invited her over to the Chhattarpur Pahadi flat where he killed Walkar. He also gifted her Walkar’s ring, the officers said. The police have already recorded the woman’s statement, said officers aware of the probe.

Incidentally, Bumble is the same app through which Poonawala and Walkar first met.

Separately, police officers claimed they have recovered some of the weapons Poonawala allegedly used to dismember Walkar’s body.

“The recovery of the weapons is a vital breakthrough in the case as it would help us link that she was killed by Poonawala,” said a senior police officer aware of the matter, asking not to be named.

The officer, however, did not clarify if the link between the weapons and the offence was established through forensic examination reports, or if it was just based on disclosures made by Poonawala during his interrogation. Police also did not clarify where and when the weapons were recovered, or if they were among the items that the police earlier recovered from the rented flat which is the scene of the crime.

Investigators earlier recovered bone fragments from forests in Chhattarpur and Gurugram, found some bloodstains in the flat, and recovered a saw, but forensic tests are yet to conclusively prove that these are linked to the case.

HT earlier reported that the police recovered some weapons and tools from the flat.

The items included “three to four” knives, one saw, and a couple of heavy tools. Even after these recoveries, the police told the Delhi court concerned last Tuesday that they had not recovered the weapons that were used by Poonawala in the crime. They only told the court about recovering some bones and a jaw from forested areas in Chhattarpur and Gurugram.

It is possible that the police recovered the weapons after interrogating him, following a custody extension last Tuesday.

Another possibility is that some Poonawala gave the police some clues during his polygraph test, which has been ongoing for nearly a week.

Investigators said that apart from collecting forensic evidence and recording statements of nearly 25 of Walkar and Poonawala’s friends and acquaintances, they were also collecting digital footprints as evidence against the suspect. These clues include his online search history, digital payments he made as well as his conversations on social media.

“We have reasons to believe that after the murder, Poonawala searched online for techniques to dispose of bodies. He has, however, deleted his search history and we are trying to retrieve it,” said an officer who asked not to be named.