Not 35, Shraddha's body was cut in 16 pieces, reveals drug addict Aftab

New Delhi, Nov 18: In a new development in the Shraddha Walker murder case, the accused Aftab Amin Poonawala has now revealed that he had chopped her body into 16 pieces and not 35 as was reported earlier. The accused has also claimed that he had dumped the body in the month of October.

Earlier, Aftab revealed that he had burnt her face to conceal her identity. He also confessed that he had searched on the internet for ways to dispose of a body after murder, as reported by news agency ANI.

Aftab smoked weed before the murder

According to India Today report, Aftab told the police that he is addicted to marijuana and on the day of murder on May 18, he was under the influence of weed. During the interrogation, Aftab said both had a fight throughout the day regarding expenses and who would bring their luggage from Mumbai to Delhi as the couple were facing a cash crunch. After a heated exchange, Aftab went out, smoked marijuana and came back.

Police widen search

The Delhi police has issued new order to 178 police stations across Delhi to reveal unidentified body parts recovered since last May.

It must be noted that in the month of June, police had stumbled upon around 20 body parts from Ramlila Ground near Pandav Nagar, but they were unable to identify the body till date. A severed head and hands were also found in east Delhi's Trilokpuri area. They have now been sent for DNA test to ascertain whether they are linked to the Shraddha Walkar murder case and the forensic report is expected soon.

The CCTV footage had captured a woman and a man carrying similar bags but their faces couldn't be identified due to darkness.

Plumber first witness to see couple

So far, police has identfied Rajesh Kumar, a plumber, who has confirmed seeing both Shraddha and Aftab Poonawala together. In a conversation with ABP News, Rajesh Kumar mentioned the first meeting with the couple was when they moved into the apartment in Mehrauli area, saying that he had received a call from the flat owner regarding issues of water supply that the new tenants were facing.

While there are people who have identified Aftab as living in the flat, not many have so far revealed seeing Shraddha with him.

Water bill

In an important angle, a water bill has now become centric to the probe. The Delhi Police have found that the accused Aftab had a pending water bill of Rs 300 and this means that in the month he had consumed over 20,000 litres of water. The Delhi government gives 20,000 litres of water free to every household in a month.

Narco analysis test for Aftab

Since the beginning of the investigation, Aftab has been evasive when it came to answer certain questions relating to the case. And now Aftab will undergo a narco analysis test after a Delhi court granted permission for the same. The police feel that a narco analysis test would help get more information from the accused. This test is only performed in the presence of a psychologist, investigating officer, or forensic expert. Meanwhile, the Delhi police have also recovered 13 body parts, believed to be of the woman, from different areas and have been sent for DNA analysis.

The background:

Shraddha Walker had met Aftab Amin Poonawala on dating app Bumble in 2019 in Maharashtra. The couple had left Mumbai and spent a lot of time in the hills in March and April.

They arrived in Delhi on May 8 and stayed at different places until they moved into the Chhattarpur apartment on May 15. The two had been bickering over suspicion that Aftab was cheating on her. She was murdered three days later and the crime came to light only in November.

The police said that the couple would fight regularly over issues such as marriage and who would bear the household expenses. In the fight on May 18 he strangled her to death and then set out to buy a knife and fridge.

Following a missing person's complaint filed by Shraddha's father, the police arrested Aftab last Saturday, six months after the crime took place. In custody while confessing to his crime, he told the police that after killing her, he chopped her up into 35 parts and disposed her body parts in different parts of the city.