Wisdom tooth removal, root canal proved crucial in Shraddha murder probe

On November 20, 2022, during a search at a forest area in Chattarpur Enclave, Aaftab allegedly pointed towards a specific area stating that he disposed of Shraddha’s skull under a bush. The police recovered “a mandible”, but “other parts of the skull could not be found there”.

“Apparently the jaw was of a human being as two teeth were found to have caps while a wisdom tooth was missing. The accused informed that two teeth of Shraddha Walkar had caps,” the chargesheet reads.

The chargesheet states that the investigators matched the lower mandible based on a “diagram by the doctor” and a DNA test confirmed it.

The medical board opinion on recovered bone states that “injuries observed on the examined bones are caused by a human being and being homicidal in nature can’t be ruled out”.

There are other pieces of DNA evidence listed against Aaftab in the chargesheet.

On November 23, 2022, police claimed to have recovered a polythene bag containing Shraddha’s hair from a garbage disposal area after Aaftab took them there.

The CFSL report attached in the chargesheet states that the fridge used to store the body parts contained traces of blood; and eight bone pieces matched with the DNA collected from Shraddha’s father.

A broken wooden board and a broken piece of a wooden board seized from Aaftab’s home had traces of blood that matches with the victim.

However, 13 bone pieces recovered from a drain at Chat-tarpur Enclave jungle and exhibits containing one hammer, 11 knives and one scissors “did not yield amplifiable DNA for analysis”.

The Delhi Police sent some of the exhibits to the Centre for DNA fingerprinting and diagnostics (CDFD) for further analysis and stated in its chargesheet that this “one bone (out of 13) and hair recovered at the instance of accused Aaftab are of Shraddha”.

Police have so far not managed to find the bag, saw, and chopper allegedly used by Aaftab. Nor have they managed to find Shraddha’s phone, debit and credit cards. The other body parts could not be recovered as the chargesheet states that the “jungle is very dense”, “in difficult terrain” and “inhabited by several wild animals”.