Aaftab admitted to murder during polygraph test: FSL
POONAWALA HAS REPORTEDLY MADE SUCH CONFESSIONS TO THE POLICE AS WELL, BUT HIS STATEMENTS, JUST LIKE THE FINDINGS OF POLYGRAPH AND NARCO TESTS, ARE INADMISSIBLE IN COURT
NEW DELHI: Scientists from the forensics lab in Rohini said that 28-year-old Aaftab Poonawala, during his polygraph test sessions, reportedly confessed to killing his girlfriend Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces -- claims that, while inadmissible in court, investigators hope will help them collect concrete proof to build a watertight case.
Poonawala is also likely to undergo a narco analysis on Thursday, said police officers aware of the matter.
During the polygraph test sessions, held between November 22 and 28, Poonawala was broadly asked about his relationship with Walkar, the abuse she underwent, where he allegedly disposed of the body parts, and about weapons used in the crime, and where he threw or hid them.
Poonawala has reportedly made such confessions to the police as well, but his statements, just like the findings of the polygraph and narco tests, are inadmissible in court. The only confession that stands the legal test is a statement recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Through these tests, however, police hope to verify if Poonawala has been honest about his version of the murder, and the test results are crucial for investigators as they attempt to sift through conflicting statements given by the suspect.
An official from the Rohini Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL), who was involved in the test, said while he remained calm through the process, there were questions where he showed “some signs of stress”.
“He has agreed to killing her
and disposing of the body. But this is what he told police earlier as well. The analysis of the test is yet to be shared with police,” said the FSL official, adding that the findings of the polygraph test will be shared along the results of a narco test, which is likely to be held on Thursday.
Poonawala allegedly killed Walkar on May 18, chopped up her body into 35 pieces over the next two days, and disposed of the pieces across south Delhi and Gurugram. He was arrested on November 12.
‘He was very normal, calm, composed’:
Woman who dated Aaftab after Walkar
The Delhi Police on Wednesday
said they have recorded the statement of a psychologist whom Aaftab Poonawala reportedly dated after he allegedly murdered his girlfriend Shraddha Walkar, with the woman telling investigators that she visited his rented flat in Chhattarpur Pahadi twice in October and that she didn’t suspect anything amiss.
According to a Delhi Police officer aware of matter, Poonawala met the woman through Bumble, a dating app, in the last week of May — just days after he allegedly killed Walkar.
Police have approached Bumble for details of the suspect’s activities over the past few months. Investigators involved in the case said that they believe he was in touch with several women after the alleged murder. The psychologist was one of them, said police.
The officer said the woman told them that she “could not imagine” that body parts of a woman could be in the house and that he seemed “very normal, calm and composed”.
Poonawala allegedly killed Walkar on May 18, chopped up her body over the next two days, and then spent the next three months disposing of the pieces across south Delhi and Gurugram. G
oing by this version of events, it is likely that he disposed of all of Walkar’s body parts by August, before the psychologist went to his flat.
According to investigators, Poonawala gifted the psychologist perfume bottles, apart from a ring that police have recovered and said it possibly belonged to Walkar.
The woman’s statement has been recorded under Section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code. She reportedly visited the house for the first time on October 12.
To be sure, any witness statements hold evidentiary value if it can lead to the recovery of incriminating evidence.