On Saturday, during the investigation into the Shraddha Walkar murder case, the Delhi Police obtained a CCTV footage video of October 18 in which accused Aftab is seen with a bag. The Police suspect that Aftab was carrying the remaining body parts of Shraddha to dispose of it into the Mehrauli forest area of Delhi.
According to the CCTV footage, Aftab made three trips with the bag. The Police believe that he was out with the bag to dump off the body parts of Shraddha he had stashed in the 300-litre fridge before discarding them throughout the national capital over many days. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police searched Mehrauli forest for the sixth day in a row for searching the missing critical evidence in the Shraddha murder case.
Reports also mention that the accused Aftab was under severe influence of drugs on the day he murdered Shraddha Walkar. Poonawala was accustomed to using cannabis, and Walkar routinely chastised him for it; possibly she did the same on the day she was murdered.
In connection with the murder probe, Delhi Police teams have been dispatched to Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. After leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala went to many locations that are being investigated by authorities to see whether anything happened on those excursions to trigger the murder.
On Friday, a team investigating the murder visited the Gurugram office of a private business where Aftab worked. Following a search, officers were seen carrying a black-coloured plastic bag holding objects found in the bushes near the office. Aaftab worked in Cvent India in Gurugram, but he was reportedly fired as he took a leave of one week without informing his higher authorities.
Screenshots of Shraddha’s WhatsApp conversations with her friends and coworkers have also surfaced, indicating that she was a victim of Aaftab’s abuse and continuous beatings. On Friday, a photo of Shraddha with injuries on her nose, neck, and cheek circulated on social media channels.
Aaftab had abused Shraddha several times, and when she attempted to make a police complaint against him, he allegedly threatened her with death if she did so. In 2020, Shraddha was hospitalized at a hospital in Vasai after she complained of acute back pain. Last year, she also saw a Mumbai-based doctor regarding her despair and Aftab’s aggressive behaviour.
Shraddha Walkar murder case
On November 14, the Delhi Police solved the six-month-old murder case of Shraddha Walkar and arrested Aftab Poonawala for murdering her, and then chopping her into 35 small pieces. Aftab executed the murder on May 18 and stored her body parts in the refrigerator. He then disposed of the body pieces in Delhi’s Mehrauli forest during the next 18 days.
The accused was arrested based on the complaint filed by Shraddha’s father on November 10. He stated in the complaint that the accused and the deceased had rented an apartment in Delhi and were staying in an unhealthy live-in relationship. He said that he had always opposed their relationship as Aftab used to physically assault Shraddha.
The girl, a resident of Palghar was adamant about continuing her relationship with accused Aftab and shifted to Delhi with him. Three days after they shifted to Delhi, they engaged in a quarrel and Aftab happened to kill Shraddha. He confessed his crime on November 14 and stated that they used to fight a lot. He said that he murdered Shraddha on May 18 as she was forcing him to get married to her. They also had a fight over who would manage the domestic household expenses.
The accused has been arrested and a case under IPC section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed) have been registered. Further investigations into the case are underway.
