Mehrauli murder case: Delhi cops feel Aftab is trying to mislead them in evidence collection

Police also don’t believe Aftab because both his and Shraddha’s phone locations were found active in Mehrauli even after May 18, but he had claimed to have destroyed her phone. Pic/PTI

The Delhi police, who are investigating the Shraddha Walkar's murder, suspect that accused Aftab Poonawala is lying about the exact date and time of the killing. He had told the police that he killed Walkar on May 18 after an argument over marriage. The cops believe that the murder could have happened between May and June, and then he dumped her body parts over several months.

"We never said that Walkar was killed on May 18; it was based on a statement given by the accused, and we are challenging it. Based on some technical details, we suspect it may have happened between May and June," an officer said.

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The police suspect that the accused is lying about the exact date of the murder to mislead them in evidence collection. The reason they suspect he is lying is CCTV camera footage from October, where he is seen walking with some bags and a box in his hands around 4 am.

The cops believe that he either disposed of some body parts or some evidence related to the case recently, after a missing person complaint was filed with the Manikpur police station in Vasai. Officials suspect that he disposed of body parts over 25-30 days, and some other evidence, which may be the weapon and the clothes she was wearing at the time of the murder.

Another reason the police are not relying on Poonawala's story on killing Walkar, is that both his and her mobile phone locations were found active in Mehrauli in May and even after May 18, but he claimed that he had destroyed her phone and only used her social media accounts. The police found he described in detail some locations inside the dense forest area, which show he might have visited the place recently. "If somebody had visited the forest six months ago, they wouldn't be able to memorise the location, but either he is misleading us or he might have visited the place recently to dispose of some body parts or other evidence in the case," an officer said.