NEW DELHI: Many of the chopped body parts, including the head, of the 27-year-old woman who was brutally murdered six months back in the national capital, are yet to be recovered by the police.
In one of the rarest gut-churning incidents that shook the country, the woman -- Shraddha Walker -- was allegedly strangled, her body sliced into 35 pieces and then dumped at different locations of a forest area in south Delhi by her live-in partner, identified as Aaftab Amin Poonawala. The accused was arrested by the police.
Official sources told The New Indian Express that the police have lately recovered 10 more plastic bags containing human body parts, just a day after they recovered 12 bags. However, the head of the victim is still untraceable.
"Whatever we are recovering, the body parts are highly decomposed and with the first look, we are not even able to establish whether it is a human part or something else," the source said.
A doctor at the Apex Hospital in South Delhi's Chattapur area has revealed that Aftab Ameen Poonawalla (28), who has been arrested for allegedly killing his live-in partner and chopping her body into 35 pieces, had visited him for the treatment of a wound on his right forearm in May, the same month the woman was killed.
Police officers privy to the investigation suspect that he might have suffered a knife wound on his arm while chopping the body of his girlfriend, Shraddha Walkar (27). The hospital is within walking distance from the accused's house.
Dr Anil Kumar said that in May, Aftab had come to the hospital in the morning with an injury on his right forearm.
"It was not a deep wound and the underline structure was intact. When I asked him how did he sustain the injury, he said while cutting fruits. I did not doubt him, as it was a small clean knife cut," said Kumar.
"The police had come here two days ago along with Aftab Poonawalla. The cops asked me if I had treated him, to which I said yes as I remembered him because of his aggressive nature and restlessness when he came for treatment," Kumar added.
"He was very bold and confident and continuously talked to me in English. He even told me that he hails from Mumbai and came here to find an opportunity in the IT sector," the doctor said.
The brutal crime came to light when the missing woman's father first approached the Mumbai Police who then came to know that his daughter was now residing in Delhi with her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala. On November 8, the Delhi Police was also informed and based on the father’s statement, they registered an FIR under relevant sections of law and began searching for the missing woman. Poonawala was detained and when put to sustained interrogation, he revealed all the horrific details of the barbaric crime that he had committed six months back.
Sources privy to the probe said that the accused Poonawala met another woman via Bumble after Shraddha's murder and even brought her to the same house in Chattarpur even as the chopped body remains were still stored in a refrigerator.
"Whatever the accused is claiming has to be verified through evidence," the source said. Delhi Police will now write to the US-headquartered Bumble dating app to seek the details of Poonawala's profile through which they will find out the woman who had paid him a visit.
(With inputs from IANS)