Aaftab’s narco test wrapped up, police await forensic analysis
Aaftab Poonawala, 28, who is accused of killing his girlfriend Shraddha Walkar, 27, underwent a two-hour narco test on Thursday, Delhi Police officers and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) officials aware of the matter said, adding that he reportedly confessed to committing the murder “in a fit of rage” and chopping up her body.
Poonawala’s admission comes a day after he reportedly confessed to the murder in a polygraph test. These claims are inadmissible in court, but investigators hope they will help them collect concrete proof to build a watertight case against him.
The session also helped police rule out the possibility of a “planned murder” and “involvement of another person or persons” in the crime committed in May, the officials said.
To be sure, Poonawala has made similar admissions to the police, but his statements, just like the findings of the polygraph and narco tests, are inadmissible in court. Poonawala had on November 22 also told a Delhi court that “whatever happened, took place in the heat of the moment” and that “nothing was deliberate”. However, his statement was not recorded as he was produced in the court by the police for extension of his police custody and not for recording his statement. The only confession that stands the legal test is a statement recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
On Friday, a post-narco test interview will be conducted at Tihar jail, where Poonawala is currently lodged.
A Tihar jail officer said, “A four-member FSL team and the investigating officer will visit central jail number 4 for a post-test interview from 10am to 3pm. This arrangement has been done as per a Delhi court’s orders in light of the high risk involved in Poonawala’s transportation.”
On Thursday, Poonawala’s narco test was conducted at Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital in Rohini by a team comprising two forensic psychologists, two video and photography experts, and two doctors from the hospital.
“A narco test was conducted on Poonawala after all parameters were met. It continued for over two hours, during which Poonawala’s health was normal. Thereafter, he was kept under medical observation for an hour and then sent back with the police,” FSL assistant director Sanjeev Kumar Gupta said.
Special commissioner of police (law and order) Sagar Preet Hooda said, “The narco test of the accused (Poonawala) has been completed.”
Poonawala allegedly killed Walkar at their flat in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi on May 18, chopped her body into at least 35 pieces, and then dumped the body parts in forested areas in and around the Capital.
Thursday’s narco test was conducted under tight security after vigilantes from a fringe right wing group had on Monday attempted to attack Poonawala while he was being escorted to jail.
A police officer, on condition of anonymity, said Poonawala’s narco test gave some more clarity about where he had dumped the weapons that he used to dismember Walkar’s body, along with her body parts and her belongings, prompting the special investigating team (SIT) probing the case to carry out fresh searches to recover the missing evidence.