In nullah, dustbin, jungle, Shamshan Ghat: Gory details emerge in Shraddha murder case

In its charge sheet, the Delhi Police provided gory details about the murder of Shraddha Walkar and the steps that accused party Aaftab Poonawala took to carry out the crime. Aaftab’s post-murder actions, including his execution of his plans to dispose of Shraddha’s body, have also been described in detail by the authorities.

The accused strangled Shraddha, and the charge document describes how he disposed of each body part individually. According to the Delhi Police charge sheet, Aaftab had an aggressive personality and frequently beat Shraddha for trivial matters.

According to the authorities, in order to sway the investigation, the accused previously claimed that he crushed Shraddha’s bones in a stone crusher before grinding and tossing the powdered remains onto the road. The police claimed that he later withdrew this statement, though.

The charge sheet also revealed that his earlier disclosure is only partially accurate. In addition to that, he further stated that in his earlier disclosure statement, he tried to deceive the police by making a false claim that after killing Shraddha on May 18, 2022, at a rented residence in Chattarpur Pahadi, he cut her body into pieces, burned the bones, and then ground the powder from the bones before discarding it.

It is also revealed that he initially tortured and tormented Shraddha who wanted to break up with him, however, she could not because she did not have a support system as she had no contact with her family.

Additionally, it was revealed in the charge sheet that he killed Shraddha the night before May 18, 2022. Then, to chop up her bodily parts and get rid of them, he purchased a saw, three blades, a hammer, and plastic clips. To prevent the smell, he also purchased a refrigerator to store them in.

According to the police charging document, the suspect moved the body to the bathroom and sliced it into 17 pieces. He cut her wrist and hand on the first day. Previously, he would dispose of each bodily part separately.

According to the chargesheet, while slicing up Shraddha’s corpse, he also sliced his hand. According to the police charging sheet, Aaftab choked Shraddha to death by sitting on her chest.

 He then chopped her body into pieces and stored them in the kitchen and fridge.
“To get rid of her habit of quarrelling and abusing forever, I grabbed her and dropped her on the floor to kill her. Sitting on her chest, I held her throat tight with both my hands until she died. Her body was hidden in the bathroom. Then I planned to dispose of her dead body by cutting it into small pieces and putting it in a big briefcase and throwing it somewhere. I also bought a hammer, a horizontal saw and its three blades. After coming home, I cut both hands of Shraddha’s dead body with a wrist saw and kept it in polythene in the bathroom,” the charge sheet revealed Aaftab’s statement.

The chargesheet revealed that Aaftab purchased disinfectant from a shopping app to clean the blood stains that spread on the floor after chopping the body.

“In the evening, I cut both the legs of Shraddha’s dead body from knees and ankle and packed them in a trash bag and kept the cut body parts in the freezer of the purchased fridge. After cutting the body parts, the blood spread. To clean it, I bought 2 bottles of Harpic Disinfectant, toilet cleaner, and bleach from the shopping app,” the chargesheet said.

Aaftab had earlier planned to dispose of the body parts in a briefcase, however, he dropped the plan due to the fear of getting caught while disposing them.

“On May 20, 2022, I had bought a big red coloured briefcase from Mehrauli market as part of planning to cut and dispose of the body. But I abandoned this plan for fear of being caught because the briefcase was heavy. Small pieces of her body had to be thrown at different places in the forest. I made the planning again. In the evening, her head and other body parts were cut off from her body, and after taking out her entrails from her stomach, I put them in polythene and in a big dustbin kept at the corner of 60 Futa Road, Chattarpur Pahadi,” the charge sheet revealed.

“Other body parts were disposed at various places including Nallah forest near the cremation ground,” it added.

Aaftab used petrol to destroy the evidence at different places. He threw her head into the forest months after he killed Shraddha.

“I kept her head, torso and both forearms in the freezer for fear of being identified. After this, about three to four months after the incident, after disfiguring her head and face with a blow torch, I cut her hair and erased her identity. Her head, both forearms and torso were thrown in the same Chhattarpur Enclave forest. Her hair and clothes were thrown in a big dustbin placed at the corner of 60 Futa Road, Chattarpur Pahadi,” the charge sheet said.

The charge sheet also stated that on December 23, 2022, during the course of the investigation, the exhibits were examined for DNA at CFSL, Lodhi Road, Delhi and Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) Hyderabad for extracting DNA for matching the same with the blood samples of father and brother of Shraddha.

The charge sheet attached Google Analysis where it is established that Sharaddha’s account was logged in through Aaftab’s phone post May 18.

The charge sheet also attached parallel locations of Aaftab’s phone and Shraddha’s phone post the offence of murder. Delhi Police has established through locations that post the murder the phone of Shraddha was with Aaftab.

It is also said that the parallel locations of the mobile phones of accused Aaftab and Shraddha have been found to be from June 1, 2022, to June 8, 2022, in Mumbai.

On June 9, 2022, the train route from Mumbai to Delhi via Mathura, Nizamuddin Railway station and from June 10, 2022, to June 19, 2022, in Delhi i.e. Chattarpur Pahari was disclosed through Google location, the police said.

The parallel location chart of the mobile number of Aaftab and Shradda after the murder of Shraddha dated May 18 2022, is also attached.

It is also said, “On that day while cutting the wrists of Shraddha, I also got a minor cut on my left hand with saw due to which there was minor bleeding also from my hand.” He had placed the polythene containing both the hands of Shraddha in the lower cabinet of the kitchen under the water camper.
On the next night of the murder, he disposed off one thigh part of the body in the jungle of Chattarpur Pahari situated at MG Road, Delhi Police said in the charge sheet.

It is also stated that over the next 4-5 days, he cut the body in 17 pieces, three pieces of each hand, three pieces of each leg, head, torso, two pieces of pelvis, and thumb, the charge sheet stated.
The police also said he went to Maharashtra to join Shraddha’s missing inquiry and on the way, threw her phone, and destroyed her credit card.

Thereafter on 22-23 October, he went to Police Station Manik Pur, District Mira Bhayander, Maharashtra to join the inquiry regarding a missing report of Shraddha that was lodged by her father, the charge sheet said.

On the way, he threw away the phone of Shraddha, her credit cards, debit cards and documents etc in Bhayander Khadi after damaging them as “I was aware that Bhayander Khadi is very deep as I did my schooling at Bhayander.”

Delhi Police also disclosed that Aaftab met a girl through an online dating app and she used to visit him.
Whenever the girl used to visit him, he would clean the refrigerator and store Shraddha’s body parts in the lower cabinet of the kitchen.

On May 13, another girl met Aaftab and Shraddha on an online app and helped them get a flat. Post the murder, Aaftab told that girl that Shraddha has moved out of the flat and ended their relationship, the charge sheet stated.

He allegedly urged the girl to get in touch with Shraddha and ask her if she was alright. As a result of Shraddha blocking him, he was unable to contact her, he added to the girl’s knowledge. So I urged her to get in touch with Shraddha and ask how she was doing. As proof that Aaftab tried to kill her, Delhi Police has also provided a letter she wrote to Maharashtra police on November 23, 2020.