A gruesome Delhi murder case, shook the entire nation after it was revealed that Aaftab Ameen Poonawala, allegedly strangulated his live-in partner, Shraddha Walkar, and chopped her body into 35 pieces. All this happened after the couple had an argument on 18th May 2022 over marriage, following which Poonawala tried to shut Walkar's mouth with his hand and later allegedly strangled her to death. He murdered her in May and kept this heinous crime under wraps till Nov 10. He took nearly 22 days to dispose off Shraddha's body at different locations. Delhi Police arrested Aaftab on November 11 from his flat in Chhatarpur and took him into custody to find the chopped body parts of Shraddha which he threw at different places. Let's know the details we have so far, about the love story that ended in a gruesome murder:
1. Aaftab, 28, and Shraddha, 26 lived in Mumbai and first met on a dating app in 2019, later they started working together in the same office and eventually fell in love and started a live-in relationship after their parents objected to their interfaith love.
2. The couple first lived in Naigaon and later moved to Delhi in May 2022 and lived together in a flat in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur Pahadi area. Walkar already had a strained relationship with her father and since the family was opposed to her love, she did not even keep in touch with her parents. Shraddha's father was completely unaware of her shift to Delhi.
3. It was in August 2022, when Shraddha's father came to know about her location after Walkar's friend contacted him in August. Meanwhile, the couple visited hill stations in March and April. In September 2022, Shraddha's friend made a phone call to her brother and conveyed that there was no contact with her for the last 2.5 months. Her father also tried to get in touch with her but failed.
4. On October 6, Walkar's father filed an application requesting Vasai DCP to trace his daughter. On the 12th of the same month, Manickpur police filed a missing case after Walkar’s phone was unreachable, her bank account showed no transactions since May, her social media accounts were inactive, and the last location traced was Chhatarpur Pahadi.
5. As a part of the investigation later, Poonawala was called to Vasai by Maharashtra Police, and he told the officers that Shraddha left home in May following a fight between them.
6. On November 8, Manickpur police informed the Delhi police about the missing case. Eventually, on Nov 10, Vasai police and Delhi police called Aaftab for questioning, and subsequently, he confessed his crime. On November 11, he was arrested and on Monday he was taken into police custody for 5 days.
7. Aaftab revealed that he killed Shraddha in their Chhattarpur flat on the 18th of May, chopping her body into 35 pieces before dumping them in the Mehrauli forest area. Reportedly, Aaftab bought a hacksaw from a nearby shop for ₹150, and a refrigerator. He chopped the body parts inside the bathroom, sterilised it using incense sticks and room fresheners so that there was no odour, and then kept the body parts in the refrigerator. The man would then take the body parts wrapped in polythene after midnight and dispose it in the jungle area and the drain in Mehrauli. According to the report of Hindustan Times, Aaftab took almost two days to chop the body and spent three months disposing of the victim’s body - piece by piece. So far 14 parts have been found. The murder weapon has not yet been recovered, also he threw Shraddha's phone in Maharashtra which is yet to be found.
8. Being a mastermind, after allegedly killing Shraddha, Aaftab used her Instagram account and had a chat with her friends until June 9, to avoid any suspicion by her friends. Thereafter, Walkar's status remained inactive for quite a long and then her friends informed her family members who later approached the police. One of walkar's friends revealed that in 2020 walkar once sent a message on Whatsapp, telling them that Poonawala would kill her if her friend could not get her out of her house. To this her friends warned Poonawala, but didn't approach to police since Walkar said so.
9. After killing Shraddha, Aaftab lived in the same flat and started a job at a Gurugram call centre. He was also active on dating apps. On Tuesday, Aaftab was taken to Mehrauli jungle by police to search for Shraddha's missing body parts. According to media reports, nearly 10 samples of remains suspected to be of a human were recovered and picked up by forensic experts.
10. Aaftab Poonawala, a trained chef, revealed that he took inspiration from American crime drama ‘Dexter’ to meticulously plan disposal of the body. Shraddha's father has demanded death sentence for Aaftab Ameen Poonawala.
