Shraddha Walkar murder case: Portrait of a psychopath

Top city psychiatrists dive deep into the deranged mind of murder accused Aftab Poonawala and decode the reasons for his barbaric behaviour based on everything we know so far

The steady drip feed of news about Shraddha Walkar’s murder by Aftab Amin Poonawala, after initial shock and horror, is veering towards analysis. The question now is why he did what he did. Dr Sagar Mundada, psychiatrist at Healthspring in Mumbai, said that responses like, “he seemed normal” even “confident” are in sync with psychopathic personalities. Another city psychiatrist is of the view that “most criminals are psychopaths”.
 
Poonawala allegedly looked at Walkar’s head in the fridge every day and used dating apps after the killing. Dr Anil Kumar, who stitched the wound on his forearm right after he murdered Walkar on May 18, remembered him as “arrogant, hyper, aggressive and confident”. The overriding shock though is his “confidence and coolness” even after being caught.

Mental health professionals take a larger look at this man, who seemed urbane and urban as they try to get into the mind of a killer, who even now, as cops said, “ is remorseless; slept well in the lock up and ate fine, at least 3/4 chapatis.”

Also read: Mehrauli murder case: ‘Poonawala always kept to himself, never mingled’

Shraddha Walkar was murdered on May 18 at the couple’s flat in Delhi

Dr Mundada said that responses like, “he seemed normal” even “confident” are in sync with psychopathic personalities. The doctor, who took an overarching look at the psychopathy angle, said, “Why he seemed ‘normal’ is that mental health issues may not be immediately apparent. In fact, many of them are very charming too; they have a magnetic pull.”

Why these persons seem unmoved or shockingly phlegmatic even after they have committed the most horrendous of crimes is “that they do not feel the same emotions like we do”, said Dr Mundada. “We all are on a different gradient on the emotional spectrum, while some people may be over emotional, others may be under emotional. Yet, we will normally experience some emotion. These people certainly do not feel the gravity of their actions. That is where the phrase, ‘cold-blooded murderer’ comes from,” he added.

Distorted reality

He said that there is a need for “more data and interviews of the person for a thorough analysis”, but “here, to chop somebody into bits is an extreme form of psychopathy”. Like several other mental health experts, Dr Mundada said these criminals, “whose reality is distorted from ours, and in that way, they are delusional”, find ways to justify their actions. “In this case, for instance, I learned from news reports that he kept looking at the severed head in the fridge. This may be a justification for the crime. We need more details, but he may try to justify it by saying to himself that this happened because she did not follow what ‘I’ said. Or, in some ways she ‘deserved’ this.” “There are psychopaths that get caught, but many do not, simply because they are adept at covering their tracks. Yet, the arm of the law is long too,” he concluded.

More cases likely

Psychiatrist Dr Anjali Chhabria said, “Most criminals are psychopaths. They also try to justify their behaviour, prime among which is that ‘I did this, because he or she did that or was like that. In this case, you see an extreme form; there is no guilt or remorse. Importantly, it has been very well thought of. It is also the classic case of a dual life, where you have a veneer of absolute normalcy, which reveals nothing of the personality beneath.”

Criminologist Snehil Dhall has a chilling opinion on him. “Going by news reports, there may be other cases; it is highly possible. He might have committed other offences. This is certainly not a killing committed on the spur of a moment, which does happen often in relationships.”

Speaking on serious issues in a relationship, Dhall said, “Overall, these are not taken very seriously by our police, who usually tell complainants: ‘aapas mein suljha do’ (sort it out yourself), until it escalates into something grave or becomes physical it did in this case.”

In fact, “the society also normalises these issues, bordering on abuse. Until there is no blood, there is an attitude ‘of all this happens in relationships or marriage’,” said the criminologist, adding, “I won’t be surprised if we hear of some more girls reporting violence by this person. It may just take one emboldened person to speak out.”

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No of months he took to dispose of her remains

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