On Tuesday, November 15, the Delhi Police took accused Aftab Poonawala to the forest around Delhi’s Mehrauli to recreate the crime scene of Shraddha’s murder. Notably, Aftab had disposed of Shraddha’s dead body in pieces in this forest after cutting her up in 35 pieces back in May. In a crime that shocked the nation, Aftab stored the chopped-up body parts in his fridge and disposed of them one by one over 18 days.
Delhi Police cracked the six-month-old murder case and arrested the accused on November 14. The accused was arrested based on the complaint filed by Shraddha’s father who is a resident of Palghar district in Maharashtra. The accused confessed to the crime and said that he was in a live-in relationship with Shraddha, the departed soul. He stated that he executed the crime after Shraddha tried to force him to get married to her.
The Police took the accused to Delhi’s Mehrauli forest area to recreate the crime scene. During the investigation, the locals staying around the forest informed the police that they had no information about the murder and that they came to know about it only through television. “We don’t go out during the night. We don’t use this area to cross the jungle. We always use the main gate,” one of the locals was quoted by Republic TV.
Locals also demanded death punishment for the accused and said, “The jungle is very thick, nobody can ever come to know if somebody goes in the jungle. There was no suspicion and we did not smell anything because we don’t go that deep in the jungle. He (the accused) should be given the death penalty and nothing less than that.”
Aftab and Shraddha met through a dating app and began dating while working at a call center in Mumbai. After Shraddha’s family disapproved of their relationship, the pair eloped to Delhi and began living together. The locals who stayed around Aftab and Shraddha’s rented apartment also talked to the media and condemned the incident. They also criticized the practice of live-in relationships and said that these kinds of incidents happen due to live-in relationships.
One of the locals while speaking to the ABP news said, “Government, judiciary approved the live-in relationship with an intention to reduce rapes and murders but now these kinds of gruesome incidents are happening. Live-in should have no place in society.”
Notably, the Supreme Court in ‘S. Khushboo v. Kanniammal’ case gave legal recognition to live-in relationships by categorizing them as ‘domestic relationships’ protected under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The Court ruled that a live-in relationship is protected by the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The Court also ruled that live-in relationships are legal and that the act of two adults living together cannot be regarded as criminal or unlawful in any situation.
In the current case, the accused and the deceased were staying in a live-in relationship in Delhi. The relationship was not approved by the family of the deceased woman. Shraddha’s father in the complaint mentioned that the accused physically assaulted Shraddha very often and they never approved of her relationship with Aftab. “The relationship between my daughter and Aftab was not good. I am confident that he is behind her disappearance. Either he has hidden her somewhere or has done something wrong,” he said in his complaint that led to Aftab’s arrest.
Following the father’s complaint, the Delhi Police launched an investigation and eventually apprehended Aftab using technical surveillance. The accused during the interrogation confessed. Aftab said that they shifted to Delhi by April-end or May first week after facing opposition from their families. He also said that they used to have regular fights during their relationship.
The duo suspected each other of cheating and often asked for GPS details and photographs of their surroundings. To improve their relationship, they also planned a trip to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in April this year. It is after the trip that they moved to Delhi. However, on May 18, three days after they shifted to Delhi they again got into a fight which concluded in Shraddha’s death this time. “We suspect the woman was shouting or screaming during the fight, and the man tried to silence her by strangling and overpowering her. She died during the struggle,” said Additional DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan.
As per the reports, the accused after murdering Shraddha made all the efforts to make people believe that she was alive. He used to sleep in the same room where he murdered her and also used her social media account to post regular updates. He kept her Instagram account active till July and engaged in fake conversations with her friends to make them believe that she was active and alive.
Though the Police have nabbed the accused and sent him on five-day remand, the weapon with which Aftab severed Shraddha’s dead body is yet to be recovered.
