08 February,2023 07:46 AM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
Aftab Poonawala and Shraddha Walkar
The Saket court in Delhi on Tuesday took cognisance of the 6,629-page charge sheet filed by the Delhi police's special investigation team (SIT) probing the brutal murder of Vasai resident Shraddha Walkar. The charge sheet mentions chilling details of how Walkar's live-in partner Aftab Poonawala killed her, chopped her body into 17 pieces, used a blowtorch and stone grinder to crush bone joints and disposed of the same.
The charge sheet revealed that Poonawala had tonsured Walkar's head and dumped her hair near a beer shop in Gurugram. It also added that at first he had caught a big suitcase worth Rs 2,000 to dispose of the body. But as it did not fit, he decided to chop the body. The arrested accused had used a hacksaw, three blades, a saw, a hammer, a Chinese chopper, and a stone grinder to cut Walkar's body into smaller pieces.
Aftab Poonawala and Shraddha Walkar
Apart from a fridge, he had also bought dry ice so that the severed body parts remain frozen. He then put the pieces in trash bags and dumped them in the forest areas of Gurugram, Mehrauli in Delhi. The cops have also mentioned that Poonawala disposed of her documents and cards in Bhayandar creek during his visit to the city
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‘Aftab would beat up and then apologise to Shraddha Walkar’
As per the charge sheet which the SIT filed before the Saket court on January 24, Walkar and Poonawala had a disagreement on May 18 as the latter refused to travel to Mumbai to get the former her belongings. It added that unhappy about Poonawala's refusal, Walkar started to abuse him. It further stated that as the relationship between the two of them had already soured and Poonawala wanted to get rid of Walkar, he pinned her down, sat on her chest and strangled her between 1.50 pm and 7.45 pm on May 18, 2022.
The flat in Chhattarpur where the couple used to live
The charge sheet, which also carried witness statements, mentions that Poonawala was aggressive and used to beat Walkar up over petty issues. "This is clear that tortured and tormented Shraddha decided to break up with the accused several times, but she could not because she had no support system. She was largely banking on the accused or rather she was at a point of no return," it read.
"After killing Shraddha, I closed the main door of the house at around 7.45 pm and went to a nearby hardware shop on 60 Feet Road, Chhattarpur, Pahadi Delhi and purchased a saw, three blades, a hammer and plastic clips," reads the chargesheet.
The charge sheet further quoted Poonawala as saying that he then shifted Walkar's body to the bathroom, chopped her wrists using the saw. He then kept the severed hands in a plastic bag in a cabinet under the water camper.
"On the next night of murder i.e. 19/20-05-2022 at around 2 AM, I disposed of one thigh part of the dead body in the jungle of Chattarpur. Over the next 4-5 days, I cut the body in 17 pieces (three pieces of each hand, three pieces of each leg, head, torso, two pieces of pelvic region, and thumb," reads the chargesheet.
Poonawala told Delhi cops, "I used to dispose of the body parts one by one as per my convenience. I bought a fridge on 19-05-2022 to store the remaining body parts to prevent it from decomposing."
He also told the cops that he got rid of Walkar's credit and debit cards as well as documents at Bhayandar creek before he visited Manikpur police station in Vasai on October 22-23, 2022. It was Manikpur police which had first filed a missing report, which was then transferred to Meherauli police in Delhi based on Walkar's last location.
The Delhi cops have also mentioned the premise that led to the murder. As per a disclosure Poonawala made on November 12, 2022, he and Walkar had opted for counselling via Practo app.
The cops had written to the app and got a copy of the audio and video of the counselling session. The audio was then played to Walkar's father Vikas and Badri, a Mehrauli resident who had befriended the couple, to confirm the voices.
In addition, two psychologists were also approached who confirmed that they had counselled the duo. The charge sheet also mentioned that two of the couple's neighbours in Mehrauli had spotted them having a heated argument on the day of the murder.
