The Delhi Police has recovered the weapon allegedly used by Aaftab Amin Poonawala to cut the body of his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, sources said on Monday.
Police have also recovered a ring that belonged to 27-year-old Walkar, which Poonawala allegedly gave to another woman, they said.
“The weapon used to cut Shraddha Walkar’s body has been recovered by police,” a source said.
The remaining sessions of Poonawala’s polygraph test are underway at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Rohini, the sources said, adding that he arrived at the lab at 9:50 am and the sessions began around 11 am. Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar, and cut her body into 35 pieces, which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in Mehrauli in south Delhi, before dumping them across the city over several days.
He was arrested on November 12 and sent to five-day police custody, which was further extended by five days on November 17.
On November 22, he was sent to four more days of police custody. On November 26, the court sent him to judicial custody for 13 days.
Police are yet to find Walkar’s skull and some other body parts.
Silent march in Nashik, participants demand check on ‘love jihad’
A large number of people carrying saffron flags participated in a silent march taken out in Maharashtra’s Nashik city on Monday demanding to stop what they called as “love jihad” and capital punishment for Shraddha Walkar murder case accused Aaftab Poonawala.
Activists of different right-wing organisations and members of the general public including women, some of them wearing saffron clothes and caps, joined the ‘Virat Hindu Muk Morcha’ (mega silent march), which began from a school in Shalimar suburb and passed through a number of city areas. The march participants put forth various demands, including a law against religious conversion and “love jihad”, capital punishment for Poonawala, strict implementation of the cow slaughter ban and stringent action against those insulting Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar (27) in May this year and sawed her body into 35 pieces, which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping those across the city over several days past midnight.
“We demand capital punishment for Poonawala, accused in the case of murder of Shraddha Walkar,” said Ram Singh Bawri, national president of the Hindu Ekta Andolan Party which participated in the march. “The government should take steps that ‘love jihad’ does not happen. The girls who have become victims of ‘love jihad’ should be saved. We also demand implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the country,” he said.
Later, a delegation of women participants submitted a memorandum of their demands to district Collector D Gangatharan.
Members of various right wing organisations and local leaders from different political parties participated in the march.
Police security was deployed during the march.
Police van carrying Aaftab attacked
A police van carrying Aaftab Amin Poonawalla, who is accused of the ghastly murder of his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in Delhi’s Mehrauli area, was attacked by unidentified people armed with swords and sticks when he was being taken back to Tihar jail after a polygraph test at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Rohini. However, the van exited safely and the people who were also pelting stones were stopped by the police. Further details are awaited.
Meanwhile, the FSL officials conducted the polygraph test on Aaftab for nearly seven hours on Monday.
Sanjeev Gupta, Deputy Director, FSL, said the polygraph test is likely to continue further.“The process for narco test will also start soon,” said the official.
According to sources, Aaftab was asked around 60 questions during the session on Monday. As per a source, a polygraph and narco tests are imperative in this case, as Aaftab, during questioning, was deceptive in nature and also tried to mislead the interrogators.
