Delhi Police probe into the Shraddha Walker murder case has revealed that the accused Aftab Poonawalla was a food blogger who used to work at a call centre in the national capital. The police are now investigating if he had rented a flat in Delhi`s Chhatarpur area as part of a conspiracy to kill the victim.
The police investigation has also revealed that the couple had frequent fights. According to police sources, before shifting to Delhi in 2022, the couple had come into a relationship in 2019. They stayed in Maharashtra for some time but used to visit various places as part of their travel plans.
“My daughter (Shraddha Walkar) told my wife in 2019that she wanted to be in a live-in relationship with Aftab Ameen Poonawala. My wife and I did not approve of this decision of hers as we are Koli Hindus and he was a Muslim and we do not indulge in inter-religion or inter-caste marriages,” Vikas Walkar wrote in the FIR.
“Despite incurring our displeasure, our daughter (Shraddha) said to us: ‘I’m 25-years-old now and I have all the right to take my decisions. I have to live with Aftab Ameen Poonawalala in a live-in relationship. From today, forget that I am your daughter’…She just took her clothes and left to live with Aftab Ameen Poonawala.”
According to the police, they went to hill stations in March-April. Both of them had travelled to Himachal Pradesh for a few days in May and stayed together where they met a man who lived in Delhi`s Chhatarpur. As per reports, upon shifting to Delhi, they had initially stayed at the flat of the same Man whom they met in Himachal. However, the stay did not change the situation between them.
Later, Aftab rented a flat in Chhatarpur where he shifted with Shraddha. She was reportedly strangled to death on May 18 in the Chhatarpur flat. The police have come to know that the room was taken on rent a few days before the murder.
“It is also a matter of investigation whether Aftab had already hatched a conspiracy to kill her,” the police sources said.
The accused told the police during interrogation that he used to take the pieces of the dead body to the disposal at 2:00 am due to the little movement of people at this hour.
Sources said Aftab had relations with many girls even before Shraddha. Before committing the crime, he also watched many crime movies and web series, including the American crime drama series Dexter.
In September, the victim’s friend informed her family that there was no contact with Shradhha for the last two and a half months and her mobile number was also switched off. Her family also checked her social media accounts and found no updates during this period.
In November, the victim’s father Vikash Madan Walker, a resident of Palghar (Maharashtra), approached Mumbai police and lodged a missing person’s complaint.
During the initial investigation, the victim’s last location was found in Delhi, and on the basis of this, the case was transferred to Delhi police.
Police said that Aftab, after searching on Google, cleaned blood stained from the floor with some chemicals and disposed of stained clothes. He shifted the body in the bathroom and bought a refrigerator from a nearby shop. Later, he chopped the body into small pieces and put them in the fridge.
Officials said that Shraddha Walker (27) from Mumbai, met the Aftab while working at a call center in Mumbai. “The two got together via a dating app in Mumbai. They were in a live-in relationship for three years and had shifted to Delhi. Soon after the two shifted to Delhi, Shraddha started pressurizing the man to marry her,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South Delhi Ankit Chauhan told ANI.
“The two quarrelled frequently and it used to get out of control. In this particular instance that occurred on May 18, the man lost his temper and strangled her,” said Chouhan. “The accused told us that he chopped her into pieces and disposed of her parts in nearby areas in the jungle area of Chhatarpur Enclave. He has been arrested and an investigation is going on,” added DCP Chouhan.
Aftab allegedly chopped her body into 35 pieces, bought a refrigerator and kept them in it. He later started disposing of the body pieces at different locations in and around Delhi during night hours for the next 18 days, said sources.
Sources further said, Aftab used to sleep every day in the same room where he had chopped the body after killing Shraddha. He used to see the face after keeping it in the fridge. Aftab had cleaned the fridge after disposing the body parts.
