Shraddha Walkar murder case: Aftab Poonawala, accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in May this year, shifted belongings from his flat in Maharashtra's Palghar district to Delhi in June this year.
According to the details, Aftab shifted these belongings in 37 boxes and paid Rs 20,000 for the job, a police official said on Monday.
Poonawala had told Delhi Police that before moving to the national capital, he and his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar had an argument over who would pay for shifting the items from their house in the Vasai area of Palghar.
A police official said they will find out whose account was used to pay Rs 20,000 for the transportation of furniture and other household items in June through the Goodluck Packers and Movers company.
On Sunday, a Delhi Police team recorded the statement of an employee of the packaging company in Maharashtra's Palghar district.
It was then that they came to know that Poonawala had shifted belongings in 37 packages from his flat at White Hills Society in the Evershine City of Vasai to his residence in Delhi's Chhatarpur area in June, the official said.
The Delhi Police team is in Manikpur in Vasai, the native place of the victim -- where the couple had stayed before shifting to the national capital.
The police on Sunday also recorded the statement of the owner of the house where Walkar and Poonawala stayed in 2021 and the owner of the flat in the Mira Road area near Mumbai where the accused's family members were staying till a fortnight ago (before becoming untraceable), officials said.
Walkar (27) was allegedly killed by Poonawala in Delhi in May this year.
He chopped her body into multiple pieces and preserved them in a fridge for almost three weeks at their flat before disposing of them over several days.
On Saturday, the Delhi Police team recorded statements of four persons in Palghar, including two men from whom Walkar had sought assistance after she was assaulted by Poonawala in 2020, officials earlier said.
The Delhi Police on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the case.
According to officials, after leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala travelled to several locations, including Himachal Pradesh, and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips prompted the accused to kill his partner.
No narco test on Aaftab on Monday, says FSL
Meanwhile, Aftab Poonawala's narco analysis test will not be conducted on Monday, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) said.
A polygraphic test is to be conducted on Aftab before the narco test for which his consent is needed, and the police have been informed about that, it said.
"We are not conducting the narco test on Aftab today," said FSL Assistant Director Sanjeev Gupta.
Punit Puri, also an assistant director at the FSL, said the polygraphic test will be conducted if consent is received.
"It will be followed by medical tests and after these only, the narco will be performed."
"Within 10 days, narco will be done," he added.
Assistant Director Sanjeev Gupta further said they have received a request for the narco test "and we have started our work as well. Our director Deepa Varma has instructed us to take this case on priority."
"There was a meeting on Sunday between the FSL and the police team and everything has been decided but some parameters need to be completed before the narco test and they have been informed to the police. As soon they complete them we can do narco," he said.
Explaining the narco test, Rajneesh Gupta, the FSL crime scene in-charge, said it is a lengthy process with various disciplines such as medical practitioners involved as this is done in the operation theatre.
"Experts from FSL, photo division, narco specialists are there so all teams work together and their consent is also needed to work in coordination.
Our officers are already having meetings with all departments to take their consent and when we get it we will have a date with us which we will inform you about," he said.
A senior FSL official said earlier in the day an elaborate discussion was held on Sunday with the Delhi Police team probing the Shraddha Walker murder case.
As Aftab Poonawala's five-day police custody ends on Tuesday, the Delhi Police is running against time to get the test conducted.
The narco-analysis test will be conducted at Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Delhi's Rohini area.
In an order dated November 17, a Delhi court had directed the city police to complete the narco-analysis test within five days, while making it clear that it cannot use any third-degree measure on him.
Narco analysis, also known as truth serum, involves the intravenous administration of a drug (such as sodium pentothal, scopolamine and sodium amytal) that causes the person undergoing it to enter into various stages of anaesthesia.
In the hypnotic stage, the person becomes less inhibited and is more likely to divulge information, which would usually not be revealed in the conscious state.
(With inputs from PTI)
