‘Aftab cut body into 17 parts, ground bones in stone-grinder’: Chargesheet in Shraddha murder case

Delhi Police in their chargesheet in the Shraddha Walkar murder case have claimed that accused Aftab Amin Poonawala had ground her bones in a stone grinder and had disposed of the powder.

Police said Shraddha’s head was among the last pieces of her body to be disposed by Aftab, at least three months after the murder.

Aftab has been accused of strangling Shraddha, his live-in partner, to death, and chopping her body to into multiple pieces before disposing them in the forest.

Also read: Why didn’t Shraddha Walkar just walk away? It’s complicated

The chargesheet which runs into 6,600 pages carried several shocking details into the murder. It said Aftab had dined on a chicken roll ordered through Zomato after killing Shraddha.

The document said Aftab had taken a two-week course in butchering while he was doing his diploma in hotel management in Mumbai.

The Special Investigation Team of Delhi Police had filed the chargesheet before the Saket court on January 24.

What led to the murder?

The chargesheet said the couple had a fight on May 18, 2022 after Aftab refused to travel to Mumbai to get Shraddha’s belongings. Upset over his refusal, Shraddha started abusing him. It was then that Aftab, whose relationship with Shraddha had already soured, overpowered her, sat on her chest and strangled her to death between 1.50 pm and 7.45 pm on May 18, 2022, the chargesheet said.

Disposing the body

The chargesheet said that Aftab has confessed that after killing Shraddha, he went to a nearby hardware shop at Chhattrapur, Pahadi Delhi, at around 7.45 pm, and bought a saw, three blades, a hammer and plastic clips.

He took the body to the bathroom, chopped her wrists using the saw and stored the severed hands in a plastic bag in a cabinet under the water camper, the chargesheet said.

The document said that Aftab confessed that at 2 am of May 20, he disposed the thigh part of the body in the Chattrapur jungle.

Also read: Aftab confessed to killing Shraddha in polygraph test, had no remorse: Reports

“Over the next 4-5 days, I cut the body in 17 pieces (three pieces of each hand, three pieces of each leg, head, torso, two pieces of pelvic region, and thumb),” he was quoted as saying in the chargesheet.

He told police that he would dispose the body parts as per his convenience and on May 19 bought a refrigerator to store the remaining parts.

Multiple partners

During interrogation, Aftab told police that he was friends with several women, including one in Dubai, and Shraddha doubted his fidelity which led to arguments between them, the chargesheet said.

Shraddha also told one of the witnesses examined by police that she used to take frequent leave from work on the pretext of illness because Aftab used to beat her, the chargesheet said.

Besides the woman residing in Dubai, Aftab disclosed to police that he was also friends with two others living in Nagpur and Gurugram.

“Walkar (Shraddha) doubted that he was cheating on her and he also disclosed that it was the main issue of his quarrel with Walkar. He disclosed that he used to beat her over these issues,” the chargesheet said.

It said Aftab became friends with another woman after Shraddha’s death.

Shifted body parts when woman friend visited him

“He had shifted Walkar’s dismembered body from a refrigerator (after cleaning it) to the kitchen cabinet when she visited the accused’s residence,” the chargesheet said.

“Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Rohini, team inspected the room, washroom, fridge and kitchen of the flat and found blood spots at the back side of the plyboard of the lower kitchen cabinet where the accused used to keep the pieces of the dead body whenever his new friend used to visit him at his flat,” the chargesheet said.

“Whenever (Aftab’s friend) used to visit my flat I used to clean the refrigerator and used to put the body parts of Walkar in the lower cabinet of the kitchen. After her departure, I used to keep the remaining body parts that is the head, torso and both forearms in the refrigerator,” the chargesheet said quoting Aftab.

Aftab has also confessed to gifting the other woman Shraddha’s silver ring, the chargesheet said.

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“On November 11, 2022 (she)…joined the investigation and handed over the silver ring and stated that this was the same ring that Poonawala gifted to her. Later on, the said ring was identified by (two of her friends) during test identification proceedings (TIP) as the Walkars ring,” it said.

Repeatedly abused Shraddha

It claimed Aftab also stated the circumstances under which Shraddha had filed a complaint against him in Mumbai. According to the charge sheet, Shraddha used to work at a call centre in Mumbai and told her team leader that she was unable to come to office as Aftab had beaten her.

“Walkar also told him that she used to take frequent leave because of beatings of Poonawala and used to pretend of being ill. On March 18, 2021, she left the job,” the chargesheet said.

It said that one of Shraddha’s friends told police that in July 2021, she informed him that Aftab would kill her if she stayed with him. “From the statement, it is evident that the accused, Poonawala, was frequently violent with Walkar and their relationship was not healthy,” the chargesheet said. It also claimed that during the initial inquiry, Aftab was “evasive” in his replies and informed police that Shraddha had left him and gone to an unknown place on May 5 last year. Shraddha came back the next month and took away her belongings, following which Aftab had no contact with her, the chargesheet said citing his earlier statement.

“During this initial inquiry, he was evasive in his reply and despite the fact that Walkar was with him for the last so many years, he was not able to tell as to where she had gone after June 13 and further, he did not inform either family members of Walkar or any common friend. Hence, a reasonable suspicion arose,” the chargesheet said.

(With inputs from agencies)