Shraddha’s father demands death penalty for Aftab, suspects ‘love jihad’
Vikas Walkar, father of Shraddha who was allegedly murdered and her body was cut into 35 pieces by her live-in partner Aftab Ameen Poonawalla in Delhi, on Tuesday demanded a death penalty for the accused. He also suspected a “love jihad” angle behind the incident.
“I suspected a love jihad angle. We demand death penalty for Aftab. I trust Delhi Police and the probe is moving in the right direction. Shraddha was close to her uncle and didn’t talk to me much. I was never in touch with Aftab. I lodged the first complaint in Mumbai’s Vasai,” Vikas Walkar told news agency ANI.
Delhi | Accused Aftab Poonawalla, who allegedly killed his live-in partner, chopped her body into pieces and disposed them off in nearby areas, has been sent to 5-day Police custody. https://t.co/CHf5rLVCG7 pic.twitter.com/UatG4NnsFp
— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2022
Former food blogger
Aftab was a food blogger and used to work at a call centre in Delhi, police investigation has revealed. The police are now probing if he had rented a flat in Delhi’s Chhatarpur area as part of a conspiracy to kill the victim. Police also revealed that the couple, who met on a dating app, used to have frequent fights.
Also read: Shraddha murder: Aftab read about human anatomy, googled how to clean blood
The couple were in a relationship since 2019 and after staying in Mumbai’s Naigaon and Vasai had moved to Delhi this year. In May, they went to Himachal Pradesh where they met a man who lived in Chhatarpur. Upon shifting to Delhi, they initially stayed at the man’s flat, reports said.
Regular fights
Later, Aftab rented a flat in Chhatarpur and shifted there with Shraddha days before murdering her, the police found. Aftab reportedly used to beat Shraddha, some media reports quote her friends with whom she was in touch. He reportedly strangled her to death on May 18 in the Chhatarpur flat.
“It is also a matter of investigation whether Aftab had already hatched a conspiracy to kill her,” ANI quoted police sources.
During police interrogation, Aftab told the police he used to take out the body parts for disposal late at 2 am.
Aftab had done food blogging for some time and his Instagram handle shows he had more than 28.000 followers. But he had not posted anything since February.
Disposing the body
“It is learnt that after the murder, Aftab used to return home by 6-7 pm and then take the dead body parts kept in the fridge for disposal.” He used to carry the body parts in a black foil but dispose them without the foil in the forest, making it difficult to ascertain if the pieces were thrown by someone or were animal remains, sources added.
Also read: Delhi man kills live-in partner, chops body into 35 pieces, dumps them over 18 days
Aftab was arrested on Saturday based on a complaint lodged by the victim’s father. He has been sent to police remand for five days, police said on Monday.
(With Agency inputs)
