In Delhi Murder Of Woman By Partner, Key Evidence That Is Missing

New Delhi:

Aftab Ameen Poonawala, who allegedly killed his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar at their Delhi apartment and chopped up her body into pieces, will be produced in court today.

The Delhi Police says it wants at least one more week’s custody of the 28-year-old to complete its investigations and gather all evidence. He has been in custody for five days.

The police have yet to find the weapon that Aftab Poonawala used to cut up his girlfriend’s body into 35 pieces after strangling her on May 18.

Though parts of her body have been found in the forests in Mehrauli near the couple’s apartment in Chhatarpur, her severed head – which Aftab allegedly kept in a fridge for days – is missing.

Sources broke down the evidence so far and what the police are still looking for.

What the police have

• Aftab’s confession
• Aftab bought a new fridge on May 19, a day after the murder, to store Shraddha’s body parts. The police have the store-owner’s statement and the bill.
• Statement of the shopkeeper who sold Aftab a knife the police suspect may have been used in the murder.
• Statement of Anil Singh, the doctor who stitched up a wound on Aftab’s arm.
• Parts found in the forest have been sent for forensic tests.
• Blood found in the kitchen has been sent to forensics.
• The transaction details of Rs 54,000 that Aftab pulled from Shraddha’s bank account.
• Call records and location data from phones
• Shraddha’s father Vikas Walkar’s testimony and the statement of friends.
• Shraddha’s bag found in Aftab’s apartment.

What is still missing

• The knife or saw used to cut up Shraddha’s body
• Parts of her body are missing. Ten bags of body parts were found when the police took Aftab to the forest on Tuesday.
• The clothes worn by Aftab and Shraddha on the day of the murder have not been found. Aftab has told the police that he disposed of Shraddha’s bloodstained clothes in the civic garbage van.
• Shraddha’s mobile phone has not been found.

The police have sought permission for a Narco test on Aftab.

A report of DNA tests to establish whether the body parts found in the forest are Shraddha’s will take 15 days, say the police.

The police are also examining security footage and have asked for details from the dating app Bumble, where Aftab and Shraddha met three years ago.

Sources say investigations into the six-month-old murder hinge on forensic reports, call data and circumstantial evidence as there are no witnesses.

Aftab has told the police that he disposed of Shraddha’s body parts one by one, during 2 am trips to the forest over 18 days. No one saw him at the time.

Aftab allegedly killed Shraddha after a huge fight, three days after they moved into the apartment in Chhatarpur in south Delhi.

They had left Mumbai in March after Shraddha fought with her family, who disapproved of her relationship with Aftab.

The murder was discovered after Shraddha’s friends said they hadn’t heard from her in over two months and her father filed a kidnapping report.