‘Murder in heat of the moment’: Aaftab tells judge as Delhi court extends police custody

A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the police custody of Aaftab Ameen Poonawala accused of killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar in May.

During the special hearing in Saket court, accused Aaftab told the judge that whatever happened, happened in the heat of the moment. Aaftab will spend four more days in custody as police continue searching for the murder weapon, Shraddha’s missing body party, the clothes she wore on the day of the murder and her missing mobile phone.

“Whatever mistake I made was in the heat of the moment,” Aaftab told the judge during the hearing. The Delhi Police had sought an extension of Aaftab Poonawala’s custody as key evidence including the murder weapon are yet to be found.

Earlier, the Delhi court had directed the city police to complete Aaftab’s narco analysis test within five days while making it clear that it cannot use any third-degree measure on him. Now, the police want to conduct a polygraph test, before the narco test, and have moved an application in court stating that Aaftab is providing incorrect information and misleading the Delhi Police.

A polygraph test is a non-invasive technique in which no medicine is used. In this test, the subject is attached to a machine and questions are asked to him/her about the matter related to any case or incident. The variation in the graph when the subject answer the questions are mapped to draw a conclusion.

Aaftab strangled Shraddha and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his house before dumping them across the forest area past midnight in May.

The identification and collection of circumstantial evidence remains a major challenge in the case as Aaftab has been changing statements to mislead the probe.

After several days of search for Shraddha’s body parts in the Mehrauli forest area, Police are yet to gather key evidence in the case, such as the murder weapon, the victim’s severed head, the clothes she was wearing that day or her phone that Aaftab dumped either in Maharashtra or Delhi.