Murder charge against Aaftab in Walkar case

A Delhi court has put Aaftab Poonawala on trial for allegedly killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces. Poonawala has pleaded "not guilty" and faces charges of murder and disappearance of evidence. If proven, the charges could result in the maximum punishment of death penalty or life imprisonment. The Delhi Police relied on circumstantial and corroborative evidence, including the recovery of body parts, DNA profiling reports, and witness statements, to substantiate the allegations. The trial is set to commence on June 1.

A Delhi court on Tuesday put Aaftab Poonawala on trial for allegedly killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces, holding that there was “sufficient material” on record to frame penal charges against him.

Aaftab Amin Poonawala (ANI)

The court’s decision begins the next chapter in one of the most sensational murder cases in the Capital.

Poonawala, 28, pleaded “not guilty” and chose to face trial as the court framed charges of murder and disappearance of evidence against him. The charges, if proved, could fetch Poonawala the maximum punishment of death penalty, or life imprisonment at the very least.

“Sufficient material has been placed on record by the prosecution which warrants trial of the accused for both the offences... prima facie case for the offence under sections 302 and 201 IPC (Indian Penal Code) is made out against the accused,” said additional sessions judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar.

The judge recorded the statement of Poonawala, who was present in the court during the proceedings, and fixed June 1 to commence the trial in the case. The trial will start with recording of the prosecution’s evidence.

In its charge sheet, the Delhi Police relied upon circumstantial as well as corroborative evidence such as recovered body parts, digital trail, DNA profiling reports, post-mortem report, statements of witnesses, recovery of knife, scissors, hammer among others to substantiate the allegations that Poonawala is guilty of killing Walkar and should be charged under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).

On the other hand, advocate Akshay Bhandari, who appeared for Poonawala, submitted that charges of tampering with evidence and shielding the accused cannot be jointly framed with a murder charge. He further argued that it is incumbent upon the prosecution to show the manner in which the crime was committed and bring on record other specifics of the crime such as time and place of the commission of the alleged act.

The court, while framing the charges, turned down the arguments of Poonawala’s lawyer, observing that since the case of the prosecution is primarily based upon circumstantial evidence, and not the account of eyewitness or direct evidence, there is no requirement of stating the manner in which the crime was committed at the stage of framing of charges.

“The prosecution has heavily relied upon circumstantial evidence to bring on record the alleged offence and the said offences were alleged to have been unearthed after a period of about five to six months. Thus, it would be expedient in the interest of justice to expect the prosecution to bring on record the exact manner in which the alleged offence was committed,” the court said.

Relying on a 1952 judgment of the Supreme Court in the Kalawati and Ranjit Singh vs Himachal Pradesh case, the court also rebuffed Poonawala’s submission that charges of sections 302 or 201 cannot be framed jointly against him. “If there is sufficient evidence placed on record by the prosecution regarding both the offence there seems to be no bar on the framing charge for both the offence u/s 302 and 201 IPC,” it held.

Meanwhile, the court deferred the hearing of an application filed by Walker’s father seeking his daughter’s bones and other body parts to perform the last rites. The plea will be heard on May 22.

In January, the Delhi Police filed a 6,629-page charge sheet detailing how Poonawala allegedly murdered Walkar by strangling her, and then dismembered and disposed of her body.

According to the charge sheet, Poonawala kept the sawed body parts in a fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in south Delhi’s Mehrauli. He then allegedly scattered the remains across Delhi. Some of them have since been recovered.

Poonawala and Walkar, both from Vasai near Mumbai, were in a relationship and lived together since 2019. The two moved to Delhi in May 2022.

Poonawala killed his 27-year-old girlfriend on May 18 who then chopped her body into at least 35 pieces over two days, stored them in a refrigerator for about three months, and dumped the parts piece by piece.

The crime remained undetected between when it took place in May and November 12, when Poonawala was arrested. He confessed to the crime after the woman’s estranged family realised she had been missing.

Over the next few weeks, Delhi Police recovered body parts in southern parts of the Capital, as well as Gurugram, with forensic checks confirming that some of these belonged to the murdered woman.