Aaftab Said He 'Strangulated Shraddha With His Own Hands': Victim's Father Tells Court

Shraddha Case: Vikas Walkar was examined as a prosecution witness and told a Delhi court that accused Aaftab Poonawala directly told him that he strangulated Shraddha with his own hands

File Photo of Shraddha Walkar and Aaftab Amin Poonawala

Source : Instagram

The accused in the Shraddha Walkar murder case, Aaftab Amin Poonawala, had revealed to her father that he had "strangulated" her with "his own hands",  Shraddha's father Vikas Walkar testified in a Delhi court on Monday which was recording the statements of the witnesses in the sensational case. He also told the court about Poonawala's statement that after strangulating the victim, he bought a saw, chopped off her wrists, and put those in a trash bag, news agency reported.

Vikas Madan Walkar was examined as a prosecution witness by the public prosecutor before Additional Sessions Judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar. He testified that he went to the Mehrauli police station on November 11, 2022, where he was asked by the police officials if he recognised Poonawala.

"I replied in the affirmative and said this is Poonawala, who was living with my daughter for the last three years. I also informed the police that he quarrelled with my daughter and beat her up on several occasions," Vikas said, as quoted by PTI.

"On my inquiry from Poonawala as to where my daughter was, he said she was no more...," he informed.

"I was shocked and started feeling dizzy. When I recovered after a while, Poonawala started revealing how he killed my daughter. He told me that he had a fight with my daughter on May 18, 2022 at their Chhatarpur residence and further informed me that he had strangulated Shraddha with his own hands," the victim's father told the court.

He deposed that accused Aaftab Poonawala also told him that after killing Shraddha, he purchased an "aari" (saw), two extra blades, a hammer, etc. from a hardware store and chopped both her wrists off at night and put them in a polythene or trash bag.

Shraddha Murder Case — 'I Wish To See Him Get A Death Sentence': Vikas Walkar

Interacting with the media, Vikas Walkar said he was being "troubled" by the defence lawyer who according to him, kept seeking further dates to record the statement of Shraddha's brother. He stressed that it was difficult for him and his son, a college student, to come to Delhi again and again, while the latter's statement has still not been recorded.

"My mother is also ailing and I have to leave her to come here. I am very troubled and they (the defence side) are troubling me," he remarked, adding that nobody can understand what he is going through.

"I am trying to take this matter to its conclusion and see him get a death sentence," Vikas Walkar added.

#WATCH | 2022 Shraddha murder case: Shraddha's father Vikas Walker says, "I have to struggle a lot to come here. We are facing several problems every day while coming here...I want that death sentence should be given to him (Aftab Poonawala)." pic.twitter.com/RmXczw1srH

— ANI (@ANI) July 31, 2023

He said it appeared that the defence side was trying to take the case off-track, adding, "He (Aaftab) is so cunning, nobody will be able to say that he can do such a thing. He continues to react as if nothing happened."

Shraddha Walkar was in a live-in relationship with accused Aaftab Poonawala (28) and was allegedly strangulated by the latter on May 18 last year. He is accused of dismembering her body, keeping the body parts in a fridge and disposing those of at desolate places across Delhi over several days to dodge police.

Many of the body parts were found later in a forest near Aaftab's house.

During his deposition, Shraddha's father said that at the police station, he saw officials interrogating Aaftab about the transfer of an amount from Shraddha's account on May 20 (two days after the killing). Aaftab got perplexed and said no such thing had happened, he said.

Vikas also deposed about meeting him for the first time after his wife's death in January 2020, when Shraddha brought the accused to her father's house in Mumbai.

Facing family's opposition, Shraddha's decision to opt for a live-in relationship with Aaftab in 2019. She had said that being a 25-year-old woman, she was capable of taking her own decisions and that her father could well assume that henceforth, she ceased to be her daughter, Vikas Walkar told the court.

The examination-in-chief of the victim's father will go on till August 5.

As per the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), witnesses are examined by the public prosecutor in support of the prosecution's case and at the conclusion of the examination-in-chief, the defence counsel gets to cross-examine the witnesses.

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