In a sensational murder case unravelled by Delhi Police on Monday, a young man allegedly murdered his girlfriend – live-in partner and chopped her body into 35 pieces and scattered it around different parts of Delhi. The accused has now been sent into five days police custody, where the police officials will ascertain the various aspects of crime.
The accused, Aaftab Ameen Poonawala, a call centre employee in Mumbai allegedly murdered his 26-year-old girlfriend, Shraddha Vikas Walkar in May this year and chopped her body into 35 pieces and stored in a refrigerator which he had brought after committing the crime.
According to Delhi Police, Aaftab had carefully sealed the chopped body parts of the victim in a plastic bag and stored it in the refrigerator, which he disposed of in small consignment for 18 days in different parts of the Mehrauli jungle.
“The accused used to take the chopped body parts in a backpack and leave his house at around 2 AM every alternate night and dispose of them in the nearby jungles in Mehrauli. The accused in order to ensure that foul smell did not emanate from his house, used incense sticks. He also used sealed bags to store the body in the deep freezer of the 260-litre refrigerator that he had brought from the nearby store in Mehrauli.” A police officer from Mehrauli told The Daily Guardian.
The Delhi Police has launched a massive search operation in the jungles of Mehrauli to retrieve the body parts which are believed to be spread across 5000 to 6000 square feet and a forensic team is collecting evidence from the rented apartment in which the couple was staying.
Sources in the Delhi Police have confirmed to The Daily Guardian that some bones have been found from the jungles of Mehrauli where the accused had allegedly disposed off the body parts of the victim and that the Police would now match the DNA of the victim with the bones to ascertain the identity. Further combing operations are underway in the area.
Aaftab Ameen Poonawala and Shraddha Vikas Walkar were both residents of Vasai in Mumbai, but around seven months back in April this year, they fled to Delhi to start a new life after their parents did not agree to their relationship.
Aaftab was also a food blogger who ran an Instagram food blogging page, “HungryChokro”.
Since April, the duo was staying in a rented apartment in the hilly areas of Mehrauli, but according to the Aaftab’s statement to the police, the couple would regularly have fights over domestic issues and in May this year, after a fight broke out between the two, Aaftab lost his cool and strangulated her and killed her.
According to the Delhi Police, post killing Shraddha, Aaftab used a very sharp object to dismember her body. However, the police are yet to ascertain and recover the murder weapon.
“According to Aaftab’s statement, Shraddha met Aaftab at a call centre, where they both worked and fell in love. They eloped to Delhi sometime in April this year after their parents did not approve of their relationship. But soon both started to quarrel over domestic issues and according to the accused, Shraddha was pressuring him to marry her and on 18 May after a heated argument broke out between the two, Aaftab strangulated her and killed her. He then used a sharp object to chop her body and stored it in a fridge to slowly dispose them off in the dead of the night.” Ankit Chauhan, Additional DCP-I, South District, told The Daily Guardian.
The case had come to light, after some of Shraddha’s friends noticed that she had become inactive on social media and went to her brother to enquire about her, sometime in September this year. This concerned her parents, who also noticed no activity on her social media since May. The parents then registered a missing complaint with the Vasai police station in Mumbai on 8 November.
After investigation by the Mumbai police, the last location of the accused as well as the victim was found to be in Delhi. After which, the Mumbai police had approached the Delhi Police on 11 November to trace the missing victim.
After which, the Delhi Police spoke to the father of the victim to ascertain the aspects of the case. After taking the complaint of the father, the Delhi Police had registered a case of kidnapping against Aaftab Ameen Poonawala.
“After we registered the case of kidnapping, we started to trace the accused and we found that he was staying in Mehrauli itself. We formed teams to apprehend the accused and he was picked up from his house which he had rented. After questioning he confessed to the crime and case of murder under section 302 of the IPC and 201 of the IPC was registered against the accused.” The Delhi police officer from Mehrauli quoted above told this newspaper.