Delhi murder: Doctor says Aaftab Poonawala came with cuts on hands; police search forest

According to police, Poonawala admitted that he strangled 27-year-old Walkar, chopped her body into over 30 pieces and dumped them in a forest nearby over the next 2-3 months.

Over the past three days, the police have recovered over 10 suspected body parts from the forested area, mostly in the form of bones, but said they needed to be verified through forensic analysis.

On Tuesday, the forest remained the focus of the case with the police saying that they recovered at least one “suspected body part”. In the nearly four-hour operation to recover and identify the remains, the police first accompanied Poonawala to the forest, and later Walkar’s father and brother.

Aaftab Poonawala, accused to have murdered his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, being brought to the Mehrauli forest area, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (PTI Photo)

Speaking to The Indian Express, the victim’s father Vikas Walkar said: “If Aaftab has done everything he has claimed during interrogation, he must be hanged. I think he deserves stringent punishment for killing my daughter and hiding everything for months. I wish we knew what was going on…It was her friends who informed us about her going missing.”

According to Dr Kumar, Poonawala had visited his clinic in the morning that day. “When I asked him, he said he got the injuries while cutting fruits at home. He was treated immediately since fewer patients come in the early hours. I saw that he had a superficial injury. It looked like a knife or blade cut. I didn’t ask many questions,” the doctor said.

The police visited the clinic Sunday, a day after arresting Poonawala. On Tuesday, they said they were scanning CCTV footage for more clues related to the visit. Asked about the search at the forest, officers said the day’s recovery has been sent to the forensics lab for analysis.

Ankit Chauhan, Additional DCP (South), said, “We have recovered suspected body parts from the forest. Our priority is to recover the body parts and get confirmation from forensic reports. The accused is in police custody.”

Before she moved out of home in Vasai near Mumbai to stay with Poonawala, Walkar used to stay with her mother, who passed away in 2020, and younger brother. Her parents are separated, but both were opposed to her relationship with the accused. Since she fell out of touch with them once she moved out, her father didn’t immediately realise she was missing. It was only once her friends reached out to him that he approached police in Mumbai in October.

“She was a different person before she met him — sweet and ambitious. I don’t know what happened, but she changed afterward. She stopped talking to me and would rarely speak to her mother. I was worried after her mother’s death. I knew she was in a toxic relationship. I tried stopping her but she wouldn’t listen,” said Walkar’s father.

“We last spoke over the phone in 2021. I don’t even remember the conversation now, but she was not happy. She was upset because I didn’t accept them. We don’t have such inter-religion or inter-caste relationships in our family. I had told her not to leave Mumbai… I met Poonawala once, two years back. It was the time when my wife had died. My daughter was stressed and he was there, but we didn’t talk much,” he said.

Shraddha Walkar

Walkar’s family said she completed her graduation in mass media and later worked for a sports retail company before joining a call centre.

Both she and Poonawala met on the dating app Bumble in 2019. They shifted to Delhi this year and stayed in a rented flat in Mehrauli. Senior police officers said they are contacting friends of both to get more information about the case.

During interrogation, Poonawala was “calm and gave all details to the investigators”, officers said. He is learnt to have cried once — when his father came to the police station.

On Tuesday morning, the police went to Mehrauli jungle where Aaftab has allegedly disposed of Shraddha’s body parts. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha)

On Tuesday, the police search in the forest started at 9.40 am and went on till 1 pm. Investigators were also scanning social media and dating profiles of the accused to check his contacts over the past six months.

The Indian Express had reported Tuesday morning that Poonawala re-installed Bumble after allegedly killing Walkar, and brought another woman home on a date in June-July. At the time, Poonwala allegedly told police, Walkar’s remains were still stuffed inside the fridge.