Shraddha Walkar murder case: Aftab Poonawala down with fever; polygraph, narco tests deferred
Aftab Poonawala has to undergo a set of tests to ascertain his emotional, mental, physiological and psychological well-being. The narco analysis cannot be conducted if he is found to be "disturbed" in the preliminary tests.
Shraddha Walkar murder case: Aftab Poonawala's polygraph test could not be conducted on Wednesday as he is down with cold and fever, the Delhi Police said. The delay in completion of the polygraph test also means that the narco test on Poonawala, cannot be conducted on Thursday.
According to what a senior official at Rohini's Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) said, investigators informed them that Poonawala is down with fever and cold and so he could be brought for the polygraph test.
The test will continue only after he gets well, the official added.
The 28-year-old has to undergo a set of tests to ascertain his emotional, mental, physiological and psychological well-being. The narco analysis cannot be conducted if he is found to be "disturbed" in the preliminary tests.
The investigators and the FSL team designated to conduct the narco test are in constant touch to finalise the schedule for the second session of the polygraph test.
Meanwhile, investigations into Shraddha Walkar's murder case have deepened after a complaint letter, as submitted by the victim in 2020, surfaced.
In the letter, Shraddha alleged her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawala tried to kill her and she feared he would cut her into pieces. She also stated Poonawala's parents were aware of it.
The letter was shared by the Mumbai Police.
Later, in a statement, the Maharashtra Police said Shraddha had withdrawn her complaint, stating the dispute between both of them has been resolved.
Talking to the media, a top official of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police commissionerate said that after Walkar's complaint, police officials twice visited Regal Apartment, Vijay Vihar Complex near ARC Bhavan in Vasai town, where the live-in partners resided and recorded her statement, in which she said she was withdrawing the case against Poonawala as the issues between them were resolved.
"After she lodged the complaint, the police swung into action. Our officials called her up and asked her to visit the police station, but when she did not turn up, our police sub-inspector (PSI) visited their residence and found that Aftab was also present there with her. That time, she told our officer that she lodged the complaint against Aftab in a fit of rage and now the matter between them was resolved," he said.
"Our officer counselled them properly and warned Aftab too. He recorded Walkar's statement and closed the case," the official said.
Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-liter fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.
The murder took place in May.
On Tuesday, Poonawala had undergone the first session of the polygraph test, also known as the lie detector test, at FSL, Rohini.
Poonawala told a Delhi court on Tuesday that he acted in the "heat of the moment" and that it was not "deliberate", according to Abinash Kumar, the lawyer representing the accused.
Kumar later said after speaking to Poonawala that he "never confessed in the court that he killed Walkar".
(With inputs from PTI)
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