New Delhi/Mumbai: The Delhi Police on Sunday conducted fresh searches across the national capital, including the forest areas of Chhattarpur in connection with the Shraddha Walkar murder case, officials said. The police have scaled up the searches in Mehrauli and at the accused Aaftab Poonawala's flat in a bid to recover the remaining parts of Walkar's body and the murder weapon, as his custody remand expires on Tuesday.
Walkar (27) was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in Delhi in May this year. The Police are conducting searches in Delhi and Gurgaon to look for the body parts, missing murder weapon, and other evidence in connection with the murder.
According to reports, police have recovered part of the skull and a few other bones on Sunday after their searches. They will be sent for forensic examination to verify if they were human bones. The police also sent a team to Maidangarhi Sunday to search for evidence in a small lake.
Visuals from the spot show officers trying to pump out water from the lake to conduct searches. It is suspected that Poonawala threw body parts and other pieces into the lake. Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his house in Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.
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The Delhi Police had on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the case. According to officials, after leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala had travelled to several locations, including Himachal Pradesh, and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips triggered Poonawala to kill his partner.
Delhi Police call 3 persons to record statements
A Delhi Police team called three persons in Maharashtra's Palghar district on Sunday to record their statements in connection with the case of murder of Shraddha Walkar, an official said. The process of recording the statements was underway at the Vasai crime branch office, he said.
The three persons knew Walkar, the official said without giving more details.
The Delhi Police team is in Manikpur in Palghar district's Vasai, which is the native area of the victim and where the couple had stayed before shifting to the national capital. On Saturday, the Delhi Police team recorded statements of four persons in Palghar, including two men from whom Walkar had sought assistance after she was assaulted by Poonawala in 2020, officials earlier said.
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The other two persons whose statements were recorded are a former manager of the call centre in Mumbai, where Shraddha was working, and her female friend.
Federation of Maharashtra Muslims condemn killing
The Federation of Maharashtra Muslims, an umbrella body of outfits from the community, on Sunday condemned the killing of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala.
Poonawala was recently arrested after a police probe found he had killed Walkar in Mehrauli area of Delhi on May 18 and had disposed of her body parts over several weeks after storing them in a fridge. FMM functionary Shaikh Mujeeb sought justice for the victim and strictest punishment for the accused, adding society must take issues of domestic violence seriously.
There was also need to introspect and conduct research on the issue of domestic violence as laws have failed to act as a deterrent, he claimed. The FMM also said the media must desist from communalising the Shraddha Walkar murder case. A functionary alleged some media reports on the crime were "clearly polarizing and communal".
