Shraddha Walkar case: Aftab Poonawala, who is accused of allegedly killing Shraddha Walkar and then chopping her body into 35 pieces, was on Thursday sent to five more days in police custody — a demand which the cops had pressed upon the court to do a thorough investigation. Aftab was produced before Saket court through video link.
The police had, however, asked for custody of 10 more days.
Police submitted in the court that the accused Aftab is to be taken to Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh for investigation. The court also allowed the police application seeking permission for the Narco analysis test of accused Aftab.
Poonawala (28) allegedly strangled Walkar in May this year and cut her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi's Mehrauli before dumping them across the national capital over several days past midnight.
According to reports, lawyers staged protest just ahead of his physical hearing, which might have prompted the court to allow virtual presence of the accused.
Walkar and Poonawala were in a live-in relationship and they later shifted to Delhi after a mutual understanding to work together in 2018.
Police might face an uphill task in the court today as it is yet to recover the crime weapon, Shraddha's mobile phone, and clothes worn at the time of the crime. Police are still to recover all the body parts of Shraddha, especially her head. The blood sample of Shraddha's father is yet to match the DNA of the recovered bones. Police are still getting CCTV mapping of the entire area done.
The Delhi Police on Wednesday got permission to conduct a narco test on Aftab. According to the police, Aftab is not cooperating in the investigation. He is giving varying statements regarding Shraddha's mobile phone to mislead the police, sources said. Aftab earlier told police that he had thrown the mobile phone while on his way to Mumbai. Later, he changed the statement saying he had disposed of the mobile in Delhi itself.
