A local court in Delhi on Tuesday framed murder charges on Aftab Poonawala, who was accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces in May last year.
Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana of Saket court convicted Aftab under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
After hearing submissions from both parties, the court listed the matter for further hearing on June 1. However, the accused has denied the charges and demanded a trial.
On May 18, 2022, Aftab (28) had allegedly murdered his 27-year-old live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur area.
On November 11, 2022, Delhi Police had arrested Aftab in the case. He has remained behind bars since.
Delhi Police had filed a 6,629-page charge sheet in the case on January 24 this year, 75 days after starting investigations into the case.
Police conducted a narco-analysis test, a polygraph test and collected DNA evidence to establish the allegations against Poonawala. More than 150 witnesses were reportedly examined and their statements have been recorded. Police further collected the voice sample of Aftab.
Shraddha 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’s capital city before shifting to Delhi this year, where they took a house on rent in Mehrauli.
Reports said that the couple used to often quarrel over financial issues. On May 18, they picked up yet another fight, during which 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.
The murder came to light after one of Shraddha’s friends told her father that she was not able to contact her for the past two months.
Shraddha’s father filed a missing complaint with Mumbai Police in October last year. The probe led Mumbai Police to the couple’s rented room in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur area.
Initially, Aftab had claimed that Shraddha left home after a fight. However later, he confessed that he had killed his live-in partner.