Shraddha Walkar Case: Delhi Police Tells Court Aaftab Poonawalla Killed Shraddha Just Like His Threat, Says Report

Delhi Police on Tuesday told a Delhi court that Aaftab Poonawalla killed his live-in partner Sraddha Walkar exactly like he had threatened, as per a report.

Aaftab allegedly killed Shraddha in May 2022. After she died, Aaftab allegedly chopped her body into 35 pieces and disposed the pieces in batches in forests of Delhi. In the meantime, he stored the chopped pieces in their fridge.

ANI reported that Delhi Police told the court that Aaftab had killed Shraddha and chopped her body in the same way he had threatened earlier.

"Shraddha had filed a complaint with Maharashtra's Basai Police alleging that Aaftab had threatened to kill her by strangling her and cutting her body into pieces. He committed the offence in the same manner," ANI reported Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad as telling the court. 

Aaftab was arrested in November 2022 after investigation began on the complaint of Shraddha's father Vikas Walkar.

Delhi Police charge sheet, latest updates

The Delhi Police filed the charge sheet in the Shraddha Walkar murder case in a Delhi court on January 24. It was 6,629-page long.

NDTV reported that the charge sheet said that Shraddha had met a friend on the day Aaftab killed her. 

"Shraddha Walkar met friend on day of murder, Aaftab Poonawala didn't like it, became violent," said Delhi Police in the charge sheet, as per NDTV.

Earlier, reports said that the Delice Police included the testimony of around 100 witnesses in the charge sheet. The charge sheet included electronic and other forensic material, as per earlier reports.

India Today earlier reported that the charge sheet contains Aaftab's statement to the police but also noted that it would by itself not mean much in court. The report added that the draft charge sheet also had DNA tests of Shraddha's body parts recovered in forests.

The report said, "Bones recovered from the forests of Chhatarpur and the DNA report which confirmed that the bones belonged to Shraddha Walkar will form part of the charge sheet. Two DNA reports had confirmed that bones retrieved from forests in South Delhi belong to Walkar...The key breakthrough came when 13 decomposed body parts, mostly pieces of bones, were retrieved from the forests of south Delhi."

A Delhi court on Tuesday heard the arguments on the charges against Aaftab. Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar said the arguments on the charges have been heard and a short synopsis has been filed by the prosecution. 

The legal aid counsel has sought time to address the arguments and the "remaining arguments on charge on March 20 at 2 pm", Judge Kakkar said. 

Shraddha Walkar's earlier police complaint

Before moving to Delhi, Shraddha Walkar and Aaftab Poonawalla lived in Maharashtra where they met and began a relationship.

In Maharashtra's Palghar, Shraddha had filed a complaint with the police regarding threats to her life made by Aaftab in 2020.

During the investigation, it emerged that Shraddha had filed a police complaint in Palghar in 2020 after Aaftab allegedly assaulted her at the time.

In her complaint at Tulinj Police Station in Palghar, Shraddha said Aaftab had beaten her and had threatened to kill her. The assaults had been going on for six months at the time, as per a media report. 

However, DCP Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Suhas Bavache said that Shraddha had given a written statement saying "the dispute between herself and Aaftab Poonawala was resolved", according to ANI. The complaint was then closed.

The Delhi Police investigators have also visited Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, they recorded statements of four persons. Of these four persons, two were men from whom Shraddha had sought assistance after she was assaulted by Aaftab in 2020, said officials earlier. The third was a former manager of the call centre in Mumbai where Shraddha worked and the fourth was a female friend of hers.

Earlier, an official said the two male witnesses whose statements were recorded are identified as Rahul Ray and Godwin. Both of them are residents of Vasai region. One of them is a rickshaw driver and the other is currently unemployed. Shraddha had sought their assistance in 2020 after she was beaten up by Aaftab near Vasai and the duo had helped her at the time.

(With PTI inputs)