NEW DELHI: Hearing a plea by the Delhi Police plea to stop a TV channel’s telecast of investigation records of the Shraddha Walkar murder case, a sessions court on Monday asked the channel not to telecast the contents of the narco analysis and psychological assessment conducted on the accused in the case — Aaftab Amin Poonawala — for three days.
Meanwhile, it granted the police liberty to approach a higher court for exercising the remedy sought in the application for restraining the TV news channel from utilising in any form any material related to the FIR registered in the sensational murder case.
Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar was hearing an application of the Delhi Police for issuing orders to television channel Aaj Tak and other media channels not to telecast material related to the FIR registered in the case.
“…Instructions to state on behalf of news channel Aaj Tak that the said channel shall not telecast/publish/disseminate the contents of the psychological assessment and voice layer test, narco analysis test and conversation recorded on Dr Practo App for the next three days, i.e, till April 20,” ASJ Kakkar said.
As per the chargesheet of the case, accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala allegedly strangled his live-in partner, Walker, on May 18 last year and sawed her body into several pieces, which he kept in a refrigerator for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi’s Mehrauli.
Disposing of the application, the judge said the cops are at liberty to approach the constitutional or higher court for exercising their remedy for restraining the channel from using the contents of the FIR.
A murder most foul
Shraddha Walkar was a 27-year-old woman who was allegedly murdered by her 28-year-old boyfriend and live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala in Mehrauli in south Delhi on 18 May 2022
The case only came to light nearly six months after the murder, when Shraddha’s father lodged a missing person complaint after learning from Shraddha’s friends that they were unable to contact her for over two-and-a-half months
Aaftab allegedly dismembered her body into 35 pieces, charring her face to hide her identity. A 300-litre fridge was used to store her body parts, which were individually disposed of in the Chhattarpur forest over the next 18 days.
Poonawala was arrested by the Delhi Police on 12 Nov 2022
Court took cognisance of the police chargesheet filed against Aaftab on February 7