Probing all remains found in South Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Thursday said that they are looking at all cases of human remains being found from south Delhi between May 18 and September 15, widening their investigation into the Shraddha Walkar murder case.

Senior officers associated with the probe said the accused, Aaftab Poonawala, 28, has been giving contradictory statements, and is yet to lead them to the places where he allegedly disposed the body parts.

“It is a remote possibility that he disposed of the body somewhere else and is misleading us with claims that he disposed the body parts in Mehrauli and Chhattarpur. This is also one of the reasons why we had approached the court seeking to conduct a narco-analysis test on him,” said a police officer, who is associated with the probe, on condition of anonymity.

“Our teams will continue to search for the missing body parts of the deceased (Shraddha Walkar). We are already checking with other police stations, even those in Gurugram, to see if anyone has in the last few months found body parts of a woman’s body,” the officer said.

The police said on Thursday that they have traced the garbage van in which Poonawala allegedly disposed of his blood stained clothes, and added that they have recovered an unpaid water bill of ₹300 and some food delivery bills.

They said that one team has already reached Himachal Pradesh and is checking at places where Walkar and Poonawala stayed during their visit to the state in early May. The couple had come to Delhi after visiting different places in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Investigators are also searching for Walkar’s cell phone. According to police, Poonawala continued to access Walkar’s Instagram account through her cell phone even after murdering her so that people would not realise she was missing.

Contrary to reports by some media house that Poonawala sold the cell phone on an e-commerce site, police officers aware of the probe clarified that they have not come across this fact. They also did not confirm reports that the accused had used many SIM cards in a new phone that he purchased after the crime.

Poonawala is accused of murdering Walkar, 27, on May 18 at their rented accommodation in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi area, dismembering her body, and dumping the body parts at forested areas across the Capital over a period of three months. The couple was originally from Vasai in Maharashtra and after a vacation in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, moved to a rented accommodation in Chhattarpur just three days before the murder.