Aftab, Shraddha fought over house expenses before murder

Friends call couple’s relationship abusive; police scour alleged dumping ground

He first told the investigators that he had thrown away the mobile phone of the victim in Maharashtra but now he claims that he had dropped the phone somewhere in Delhi.”

Police source | On Aftab Amin Poonawala’s statements

Aftab Amin Poonawala, who allegedly strangled his live-in partner, Shraddha Walker, to death and chopped her body into 35 pieces, before dumping it in the Chhattarpur area of south Delhi, told police that before the murder they had fought over the shifting of household items from Mumbai.

Police investigation revealed that the couple had a fight on May 18 during which Poonawala killed Walker. Delhi Police sources said the May 18 quarrel was not the first time the couple had had a bitter fight.

“On May 18, there was a fight between the two regarding bringing household items from Mumbai. They used to fight over who would bear the household expenses and bring items. Aftab got very angry about this. The quarrel started around 8pm on May 18 [after which] Aftab strangled Shraddha to death. He kept her body in the room overnight and went to buy a knife and refrigerator the next day,” sources told ANI.

Poonawala was arrested on Saturday after Delhi police started probing into a missing person’s report filed by Shraddha’s father, Vikas Walker.

On Tuesday, police sources told ANI that Poonawala confessed that he had decided to kill his girlfriend over a week before the actual murder. Meanwhile, an IANS report quoting investigators said Poonawala is not cooperating with them.

“His statements are frequently changing. He first told the investigators that he had thrown away the mobile phone of the victim in Maharashtra but now he claims that he had dropped the phone somewhere in Delhi,” a source said.

In what sounded like a Hitchcockian horror script, Poonawala on May 18 had a fight with Walker who accused him of cheating on her.

He reportedly hit her and once she had fainted, he sat on her chest and then strangled her.

Toxic ties

“This is not the first time she was beaten by Aftab. She had told her parents, and even her friends had rescued her from the clutches of Aftab but every time, she returned when he felt sorry,” one of her friends said.

After chopping the body up, the accused bought a new refrigerator with a large storage capacity the next day and stored her remains in it. To counter the stench of a rotting corpse, he lit incense sticks.

Poonawala was reportedly inspired by the American crime show Dexter, which tells the story of a man with homicidal tendencies who lives a double life.

Aftab said his partner had trust issues because of which she would often get angry, leading to frequent quarrels.

DNA matchup

According to top sources of Delhi Police, the DNA sample of Shraddha’s father has been collected. About 10-13 bones have been recovered from the forest. They have been sent to the forensic lab to find out whether the bones belonged to Shraddha or an animal.

Delhi Police has been conducting CCTV mapping of the Chhatarpur area. As the murder took place six months ago, the police are trying to gather records for that time period.

The challenge before the police is most of the CCTVs only capture 15 days of footage.