While his heinous act of strangling his girlfriend and then dismembering her body into 35 pieces has sent a chill through our spines, 28-year-old Aftab Amin Poonawala carried out the act with the precision of an ice-cold killer.
Aftab got the idea of killing and dumping the body of his girlfriend, Shraddha Walker, who left her parents’ home against their wishes to follow her heart, from the popular American TV show Dexter.
And it was the popular search engine Google that helped him zero in on the chemical to remove the blood stains.
Aftab, who had worked as a chef before, chopped the body parts with an iron saw, which is used to cut wood and trees. He also dumped the blood-soaked clothes in the dustbin. Since the crime was committed six months ago, the recovery of evidence has become tougher for the sleuths.
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According to the police, Aftab strangled Shraddha on May 18 following a tiff. With the calmness of a professional killer, Aftab first put the dead body in the bathroom and waited for the night to think about what should be done for its disposal.
After spending the night with Shraddha’s corpse, Aftab bought a refrigerator and an iron saw on May 19. With the precision of a chef, Aftab then chopped the body parts into 35 pieces. Each body part was wrapped separately in black plastic bags. He kept the bags in the refrigerator.
Aftab and Shraddha were working at a call centre in Mumbai.
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Aftab also allegedly ground the intestines into minced meat (keema) and stored them in the refrigerator. Police sources said Aftab had bought this refrigerator for this purpose only and till the day of his arrest, he never put anything in it.
Aftab also removed the blood stain with the help of a chemical – hypochlorite – which he googled on the internet.
An investigator told The New Indian that the team of forensic experts visited his house on Sunday to collect the blood stain or other forensic evidence. But it was all removed from the house. According to the police, no blood stains have been discovered on the floor, bathroom, or refrigerator as of yet.
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At least 12 parts have been recovered and sent for forensic examination. A DNA match will also be performed to determine whether these body parts belonged to Shraddha.
The police said that during interrogation, Aftab never showed any symptom of remorse. He cried on one occasion when his father came to the police station after his arrest.
Love blossomed between Aftab and Shraddha after they met while working at a call centre. Despite her parents’ opposition, Shraddha moved on with Aftab in a live-in relationship.
After staying together in Mumbai for three years, they decided to shift to Delhi. On May 8, they came to Delhi after spending some days in Himachal Pradesh’s Manali. They spent a few days in a lodge before finally shifting to a rented house in Chattarpur, Mehrauli on May 15.
On May 18, the couple fought over an issue, following which Aftab killed her. Incidentally, after disposing of the body parts in 18 days, Aftab decided not to shift to another place.
He was confident enough that he would never be caught. For the past six months, he worked in a Gurugram-based call centre.
Police also said Aftab would often speak in English during interrogation. Currently, he is in five-day police custody and his interrogations are on.