The Delhi Police provided new information in the Shraddha murder case during a hearing at Saket court on Tuesday. According to the police, the accused, Aftab Amin Poonawala, is a trained chef who knows how to preserve flesh. Aftab had received his training at the Taj Hotel.
"The accused is a well-trained chef having the requisite knowledge for dismemberment, handling and preservation of flesh. He is having the expertise to use peculiar kinds of knives that have been recovered. He also had the requisite knowledge for cleaning the equipment used for butchering," India Today quoted the Delhi Police as saying in its submission.
The hearing was regarding the accused changing his counsel. All documents were handed over to his new Legal Aid Counsel (LAC) on Tuesday.
The police further stated that Aftab had ordered dry ice and incense after killing Shraddha Walkar. He also started a new relationship and gave a ring to his new girlfriend, news agency ANI reported.
The police detailed the sequence of events leading up to the crime in court, said Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, who represented the Delhi Police. The accused has been charged with strangling his live-in partner in May 2022 in the Mehrauli area and then dismembering her body into 35 pieces. A voluminous 6,629-page charge sheet was filed against Aftab in the murder case on January 24. The charge sheet has been filed under Sections 302, 201, and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Earlier, the Delhi Police conducted a narco analysis test, a polygraph test, and collected DNA evidence during their investigation to establish the allegations against Aftab. Over 150 witnesses were examined, and their statements were recorded. The police also collected Aftab's voice sample.
The LAC was granted time to file advance arguments in the case, and the next hearing is scheduled for March 20. The case has garnered widespread attention due to its grisly nature and the accused's profession as a trained chef, which has led to speculation about his motives for dismembering the victim's body. The police's revelations regarding Aftab's training have added a new dimension to the case.
According to the police, Aftab Poonawalla in his confession revealed that he burnt the pieces of Shraddha's corpse with petrol and after grinding several bones in a grinder, threw the powder on the road. Aftab also revealed how he disposed of Shraddha's head. Aftab said in the confession: "I burnt the pieces of the body with petrol. After grinding several bones in the grinder, I scattered the powder on a 100-foot road nearby. I discarded some parts of the body in a dustbin in Chhattarpur while I dumped the rest in a forest near the crematorium in Chhattarpur, the forest behind Rain Basera Uttarpur Enclave, along MG Road, leading to Gurugram, and the forest near Chhattarpur Hill."
"I incinerated many of the parts using petrol. About three to four months later, I dumped her head in the forest near Chhattarpur Enclave," he revealed.