“In Heat Of Moment”, Says Aaftab Poonawala In Court On Killing Girlfriend

New Delhi: The Saket court today extended the police custody of Aaftab Poonawala to four more days after he was produced before the court via video conferencing in a special hearing. His five-day custody had ended today.

Here’s your 10-point guide to this big story:

1. Aaftab Ameen Poonawala, accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend Shraddha Walkar, today admitted in a Delhi court that he killed her “in the heat of the moment”. He also alleged that whatever is being said about him now is “not entirely true”.
2. 28-year-old Aaftab said he has been cooperating with the police, and has also given maps of the location where he dumped the body parts. He assured the court that he would provide all the details, but isn’t able to recall many things because it has been very long.
3. Aaftab’s lawyer, Avinash, said that the police sought extended custody saying the Investigating Officer has received a sketch of a pond from Aaftab where they want to take him for further probe. “Aaftab told the court he is cooperating with the police, and the police are also treating him well. He said he is not misleading them or lying to them. The police also didn’t contest his claim in court,” he added. Aaftab will be taken to two ponds for the search of the body parts, one in Mehrauli forest and the other in Maidangarhi — both in south Delhi.
4. During interrogation, Aaftab said he had thrown the saw and blade he used to chop off Shraddha’s body in the bushes of DLF Phase 3, Gurugram, Delhi Police sources said. A Delhi Police team has checked those bushes twice. He threw the meat cleaver in a dustbin at the 100-foot road in south Delhi’s Mehrauli, sources said.
5. The forensics team today broke the bathroom tiles at Aaftab’s Chhatarpur flat where he murdered Shraddha, and found blood stains. The tiles have been sent to the lab for DNA tests.
6. After the first day of the investigation, last Friday, the Delhi Police collected some evidence from the bushes in Gurugram, which has been sent for investigation to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. On the second day, last Saturday, the Delhi Police had gone to Gurugram with metal detectors but returned empty-handed. They also took Aaftab to the shop from where he had bought the saw blade, which is just 250 meters away from Aaftab’s house.
7. On Sunday, the police had recovered more human remains from the Mehrauli forest. They have so far sent 18 bones, including the base of a skull, and a decapitated jaw, for forensic examination to match with Shraddha’s father’s DNA samples. The central forensic lab has said the reports would be available in one or two weeks.
8. The police had last week recovered heavy and sharp cutting tools from Aaftab’s flat, which they suspect might have been used to chop off Shraddha Walkar’s body. They also found a heavy black polythene bag at Aaftab’s Gurugram workplace.
9. Sources say investigations into the six-month-old murder hinge on forensic reports, call data, and circumstantial evidence as there are no witnesses. Delhi police today told the court that 80 per cent of the investigation has been completed. The next few days are crucial for the investigation, as key evidence in the case is still missing.
10. Shraddha and Aaftab had moved to Delhi in May and four days later, following an argument over expenses and infidelity, he strangled her to death, later chopping up the body into 35 pieces that he kept in a fridge and disposed of in a jungle over 18 days, police have said. Aaftab’s narco analysis test will not be conducted on Monday, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has said, as he has to take a polygraphic test before that.