Mehrauli killing: Police clinch DNA evidence in Shraddha Walkar case

Several pieces of bones recovered from forested patches in Delhi and Gurugram are of Shraddha Walkar, a forensic report has confirmed, reinforcing the Delhi police's case against her alleged killer and live-in partner Aftab Poonawala. The DNA in the bone samples matches with that of Walkar's father, said sources from Delhi police. Until now, the police had only circumstantial evidence to take their case forward.

The bones were collected from the various locations identified by Poonawala, who has apparently told the police that he strangled Walkar in May, chopped her body into dozens of pieces and disposed them of over the next few months. "There are many pieces of evidence against Poonawala and matching of the DNA is going to be a strong evidence against him as the bones were recovered from forest based on his interrogation," a Delhi police officer told mid-day.

Referring to the report by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, the officer said it is now certain that Walkar was killed and her body cut into pieces and thrown at Mehrauli and Gurugram forests and a pond near Poonawala's Chhatarpur home.

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Following Poonawala's arrest on November 11, a special investigation team of the Delhi police had recovered 25-30 pieces of bones from Mehrauli and Gurugram forests and a water body and sent their samples to the forensic lab for DNA confirmation. They also sent samples to the AIIMS for a post-mortem report to ascertain how the body was chopped and what kind of weapons might have been used.

In the initial days of the investigation, the Delhi cops had said that the first lot of bones had saw marks. Quoting Poonawala, the cops had said that he had used multiple tools like a saw, hacksaw, hammer and nails to cut and break Walkar's bones for easy disposal. On one occasion, Poonawala apparently used a plywood cutter to cut bones and played loud music to drown the sound.

"We have recovered multiple weapons during the investigation, the reports of forensics are awaited. As we have a confirmed DNA report that the body is Walkar's, it won't be difficult to ascertain which weapon was used to cut those bones," said an officer. Apart from the DNA report, the Delhi police have also received Poonawala's polygraph test report from the Rohini forensic science laboratory. "A detailed report has been submitted to the Delhi police," Sanjeev Gupta, assistant director of Rohini FSL, told mid-day.