Delhi Murder Case Updates: Delhi Police to seek Aaftab's Maximum Remand from Court on Thursday, Will also Explain Why It Wants Narco Test

Delhi-Mehrauli Murder Case Updates: The search is on for the head of 26-year-old Shraddha Walkar, who was allegedly killed by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala in May this year, who chopped her body into 35 pieces, before dumping them in a forest area. The Delhi police believe that while dismembering her body, Poonawala may not have been able to mutilate Walkar’s head and if it could be recovered, it would help the police in establishing the victim’s identity.

Poonawala allegedly told cops that he kept Walkar’s head in the refrigerator for a long time and often used to look at it to reminiscence their relationship. He claimed he dumped Walkar’s head at the end after getting rid of the rest of the corpse pieces.

HERE ARE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE:

• Delhi Police will seek Aaftab’s maximum remand from court on Thursday, and will also present its stand as to why a narco test is necessary. The court may then ask the accused if he was ready for it. If a go-ahead is given by the court, Aaftab’s narco analysis will be done at Delhi’s Ambedkar Hospital, sources told News18.
• A team from Delhi Police has reached Aaftab’s residence in Chhatarpur Pahadi.
• A Delhi court on Wednesday gave permission for the narco test of accused Poonawala after Delhi police moved the court. According to Delhi police sources, now Poonawala’s consent is needed to go ahead with the test. “The police will have to take the consent of the accused before conducting the narco test. Narco test can be done only if the accused gives permission,” they said.
• The sources at the forensic science laboratory (FSL) in Delhi, which is examining the evidence collected from the crime scene, told CNN News18 that some blood stains from a few untouched corners in the kitchen have been picked up as samples. “These samples are being tested to find out if they’re Shraddha’s. This will certain Shraddha’s presence in the house. This will also be used as evidence to corroborate Aaftab’s statement,” they said.
• A social activist, with whom call centre employee Shraddha Walkar had participated in a Mumbai beach clean-up drive, has claimed the deceased suspected her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala of cheating on her and appeared quiet and aloof during the cleanliness campaigns. Walkar also had financial problems and she and Poonawala used to have frequent fights, said activist Shreha Dhargalkar who runs an NGO. The activist also claimed that it was Walkar’s ‘dream’ to have a small family and a child.
• Activist Dhargalkar, who had organised clean-up drive in which Walkar participated said Shradha did not want to leave her call centre job at Malad in Mumbai.However, her boyfriend Poonawala forced her or prevailed upon her to do so saying they should go far away from Mumbai and Vasai, where Walkar’s family resided, as he feared her parents could approach police against him, the activist said. “She told me that she was having financial problems. She did not mention her live-in relationship, but said her boyfriend wanted her to leave Mumbai and Maharashtra,” she said.
• “Due to their fights and misunderstandings as well as Walkar’s suspicion that Poonawala was cheating on her, she could not concentrate properly on her work. Their relationship was in a constant state of turmoil and there were times when the couple had no money,” the activist claimed.Dhargalkar also said Walkar had asked her if there was an opportunity for a part-time or work-from-home job with her NGO, so that she could earn some extra money.
• Delhi police may also conduct a psycho-analysis test on the accused Aftab Poonawala. As per sources, the test will help police assess his mental state and the nature of the brutal crime he has committed along with the relationship he shared with Shraddha. A team of psychological experts is expected to conduct the test in the coming days once the initial investigation is done, they said.
• Although this test is not admissible as evidence in court, it helps police to support other evidence such as medical and autopsy reports, statements of mutual contacts and in the analysis of messages police will retrieve from their phones.
• The investigation of the Shradha Walkar murder case may soon be handed over to CBI. According to Delhi Police sources, the move is being considered so that matter could be investigated as soon as possible and in the best possible way. On Tuesday, CBI’s forensic team examined 10 suspected human body parts recovered from the forest area in South Delhi.
• Shradha Walkar’s friend Laxman Nadar told India Today that Shradha, who was living with Poonawalla, had asked him to rescue her from their residence. “Once she contacted me on Whatsapp and asked to rescue her from her residence. She said that if she stayed with that night, he might kill her.”
• The Delhi Police on Tuesday took  28-year-old Poonawalla to the forest area of south Delhi’s Chhatarpur and spent nearly three hours locating specific places where he had allegedly dumped the victim’s body parts.
• However, Tuesday’s search did not yield results even as 13 possible parts have been recovered, mostly in the form of bones, during searches launched last week. The accused will again be taken to different locations on Wednesday for further probe into the case.
• According to a senior police official, one of victim Shradaha Walkar’s friends Laxman, who alerted her father, will also be asked to join the investigation.
• Police officials said as South Delhi’s Mehrauli is home to many young tenants, who usually go out during odd hours, nobody may have suspected Poonawala’s movements late in the night.
• It is suspected that when other women came to his flat, Poonawala used to shift the body pieces from the fridge to his cupboard so that if anyone opens the fridge, he is not suspected, they said.
• A police official said the accused searched on Google ‘how to cut human body’, adding he disposed of blood-stained clothes in an MCD garbage van.
• A friend of Walkar said there could be a “big conspiracy” behind her murder, while another claimed she had once called him saying Poonawala would kill her.
• Meanwhile, a doctor who treated Poonawalla said the accused had visited him in May, the same month when the woman was killed, for treating a wound.
• Dr Anil Kumar recalled Poonawalla was very aggressive and restless when he had come to him for treatment and when he asked him about his injury, he claimed he got hurt while cutting fruit. “In May, he came in the morning hours. My assistant told me that one person has come with an injury. When I saw him, I found it was not a deep injury but a superficial one. The underline structure was intact. When I asked him how he sustained this injury, he replied it was while he was cutting fruit. I did not have any doubt as it was a small clean knife cut,” said Kumar.
• According to police, Poonawala and Walkar used to live on the first floor of a building at Street Number 1 in the Chhatarpur Pahadi area. The couple moved to the house in Mehrauli on May 15. On the 18th of that month, an argument broke out between them and Poonawala tried to shut her mouth with his hand. He later allegedly strangulated her, police said.
• The accused has apparently confessed that after strangling Walkar, he sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days.

Read all the Latest India News here