A local court in the national capital on Tuesday extended by four days, the police custody of Aftab Amin Poonawalla, accused of mercilessly murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and later chopping her body into several pieces.
During the hearing, which took place through video-conferencing, Aftab told Judge Aviral Shukla of Saket court that he murdered Shraddha in a fit of rage.
Police said that even after months of the incident, Aftab was not able to provide a clear chain of events and that there were discrepancies in his statements.
The court had last week permitted the police to conduct a narco-analysis (lie-detection) test on the accused.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court had rejected a petition seeking transfer of the investigation in the case from Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that police was doing its work diligently and that there was no need for the court to monitor it. The High Court also proceeded to impose costs, while dismissing the plea.
The High Court was apprised by the Delhi Police that 80 percent probe in the case had been completed, which was done under the vigilance of senior officers.
The Central government also opposed the petition, stating that a private party by way of PIL cannot dictate the manner in which the investigation should be conducted.
A practicing advocate, Joshini Tuli, has filed the petition, claiming that the Delhi Police has told the media about sensitive details, which resulted in the public knowing too much about the case.
It further stated that the presence of media and other public persons at the site of recoveries and in court hearings amounted to interference with the evidence and witnesses in the present case.
The petitioner said that the relief sought is likely to affect the accused, complainant and the citizens of Delhi at large.
The plea highlights that the murder has been alleged to have taken place in Delhi, after which the accused has disposed of body at different places.
As per the plea the Mehrauli Police station lacks sufficient technical and scientific equipment to find out the evidences and the witnesses as the incident had taken place about 6 months back in May, 2022.
The lawyer said that as per the media reports, the Delhi Police will be taking accused to five different states for further investigation, so the case was inter-state and beyond the territorial jurisdiction of Delhi Police, the lawyer claimed.
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 before shifting to Delhi this year, where they took a house in Mehrauli.
As per the reports, they used to quarrel often over financial issues. On May 18, they picked up yet another fight, where the accused lost his control and strangulated the victim. He chopped her body into 35 pieces, stored it in a fridge and later dumped the parts in different areas of the city over the next 18 days.