A local court in the national capital on Friday extended the judicial custody by 14 days of Aftab Amin Poonawala, who was arrested for murdering his live-in girlfriend Shraddha Walker and chopping her body in 35 pieces.
Aftab was presented in the Saket Court today, which is conducting in-camera hearing in the matter. While calling it a sensitive matter, the court told the media to stay out of the courtroom. Aftab will now be presented before the court on January 6.
The court further granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take Aftab’s voice sample at 10 am on Monday. CBI told the court that it will take Aftab’s voice sample at its Headquarters, since the place was equipped with the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) facility.
Earlier on Thursday, the court had dismissed Aftab’s bail petition as withdrawn. The accused appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Vrinda Kumari through video-conferencing.
Advocate M.S. Khan, appearing for Aftab, had moved the application before the court seeking bail to his client mentioning that police could not find any concrete evidence against his client, so he should be granted bail.
Khan told the court that the petition was filed due to some miscommunication between him and his client and that his client wished to withdraw the same.
The accused had informed the court through an email that though he signed on the vakalatnama, he was not aware that his advocate was going to file a bail petition on his behalf.
Judge Aviral Shukla of Saket court had extended Aftab’s judicial custody on December by 14 days. Delhi Police had sought an extension of judicial custody and submitted that investigation was in progress.
On November 26, Aftab was remanded to 14 days judicial custody.
Shraddha, 27, met Aftab on dating application Bumble, from where they got into a friend zone, which later changed into a full fledged relationship and then to live-in. The couple was earlier residing in Maharashtra before shifting to Delhi this year, where they took a house in Mehrauli.
As per the reports, the couple used to often quarrel over financial issues. On May 18, they picked up yet another fight, where the accused lost his control and strangulated the victim.
The 28-year-old allegedly chopped Shraddha’s body into 35 pieces, stored it in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence and later dumped the parts in different areas of the city over the next 18 days.