News Analysis India

Tag: Shraddha Walkar

  • Aaftab Poonawala should be hanged for killing my daughter: Shraddha Walkar’s father

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Vikas Walkar, father of Shraddha Walkar who was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in Delhi, on Friday demanded that the accused be hanged to death for killing his daughter.

    Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha and cut her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in Mehrauli in south Delhi in May this year, before dumping them across the city over several days.

    “Aaftab Poonawala should be given capital punishment of hanging for killing my daughter. There should be stern action against Poonawala and whosoever was involved in the case,” Walkar told reporters here after meeting Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

    “An inquiry should also be conducted against the police officials of Vasai and Nalasopara and Tulinj police (in Palghar district) for delayed the investigation on Shraddha’s complaint. Had they acted immediately, my daughter would have been alive now,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Aaftab will kill me, cut me into pieces: Shraddha’s letter to police in 2020

    Shraddha Walkar had submitted a written complaint to Tulinj police in November 2020, in which she alleged: “Poonawala has been abusing me and beating me up. Today, he tried to kill me by suffocating me and he scares and blackmails me that he will kill me, cut me up in pieces and throw me anyway. It’s been six months he has been hitting me. But I did not have the guts to go to police because he would threaten to kill me.”

    Deceased Shradha Walkar’s father meets Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis this noon at his Bungalow in Mumbai to seek justice for his daughter who was killed by Aftab Poonawala in Delhi. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya was also present in the meeting. @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/1usSH3aNeN
    — Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) December 9, 2022
    Vikas Walkar said Delhi Governor and DCP Delhi South and Maharashtra deputy CM Fadnavis have assured justice to his family.

    MUMBAI: Vikas Walkar, father of Shraddha Walkar who was murdered allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in Delhi, on Friday demanded that the accused be hanged to death for killing his daughter.

    Poonawala allegedly strangled Shraddha and cut her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in Mehrauli in south Delhi in May this year, before dumping them across the city over several days.

    “Aaftab Poonawala should be given capital punishment of hanging for killing my daughter. There should be stern action against Poonawala and whosoever was involved in the case,” Walkar told reporters here after meeting Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

    “An inquiry should also be conducted against the police officials of Vasai and Nalasopara and Tulinj police (in Palghar district) for delayed the investigation on Shraddha’s complaint. Had they acted immediately, my daughter would have been alive now,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Aaftab will kill me, cut me into pieces: Shraddha’s letter to police in 2020

    Shraddha Walkar had submitted a written complaint to Tulinj police in November 2020, in which she alleged: “Poonawala has been abusing me and beating me up. Today, he tried to kill me by suffocating me and he scares and blackmails me that he will kill me, cut me up in pieces and throw me anyway. It’s been six months he has been hitting me. But I did not have the guts to go to police because he would threaten to kill me.”

    Deceased Shradha Walkar’s father meets Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis this noon at his Bungalow in Mumbai to seek justice for his daughter who was killed by Aftab Poonawala in Delhi. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya was also present in the meeting. @NewIndianXpress pic.twitter.com/1usSH3aNeN
    — Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) December 9, 2022
    Vikas Walkar said Delhi Governor and DCP Delhi South and Maharashtra deputy CM Fadnavis have assured justice to his family.

  • Man held in UP’s Bulandshahr for justifying Shraddha Walkar’s murder

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: A man from Bulandshahr, whose video has been doing rounds on various social media platforms for justifying Shraddha Walkar’s killing in Delhi, was held by the district police on Friday.

    The man, (26), who had identified himself as Rashid Khan while interacting with a media person, can be seen justifying the killing of Shraddha Walker by her paramour. 

    As per the Bulandshahr police sources, the accused was arrested for making deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings. The accused, who had identified himself as Rashid Khan before the media, was found out to be Vikas Kumar. 

    In the video clip going viral on social media, Kumar can be seen saying that if a man is not in a good mood, he can chop a woman into 35 pieces. 

    “Had I been in his (Aaftab’s) place, I would have chopped the person for arguing with me into more pieces, maybe 36. Only one person cannot make mistake. It is always the fault of both,” Kumar can be heard as saying in the video clip. 

    When the journalist asks from where he has been trained in such thoughts, the man can be heard saying, “What training, just take a knife and start cutting piece by piece.” 

    According to Bulandshahr SSP Shlok Kumar, two days back, a video of the youth claiming himself to be Rashid Khan, was found making objectionable comments. A case was filed against him at Sikandrabad police station. The SSP added that on Friday, when the police took the person in custody and questioned him, he identified himself as Vikas Kumar. 

    “In the preliminary inquiry, the police have found the accused to be of criminal background with five cases — two in Bulandshahr and three in Gautam Budh Nagar—lodged against him. 

    The cases filed against him are of theft and those under Arms Act,” said the SSP. According to Sikandrabad police station SHO Akhilesh Tripathi, the case was lodged against the youth on the basis of a complaint filed by Ravindra Sharma, who claims to be a member of the Hindu Jagran Manch. The FIR was lodged on Friday under IPC Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).

    LUCKNOW: A man from Bulandshahr, whose video has been doing rounds on various social media platforms for justifying Shraddha Walkar’s killing in Delhi, was held by the district police on Friday.

    The man, (26), who had identified himself as Rashid Khan while interacting with a media person, can be seen justifying the killing of Shraddha Walker by her paramour. 

    As per the Bulandshahr police sources, the accused was arrested for making deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings. The accused, who had identified himself as Rashid Khan before the media, was found out to be Vikas Kumar. 

    In the video clip going viral on social media, Kumar can be seen saying that if a man is not in a good mood, he can chop a woman into 35 pieces. 

    “Had I been in his (Aaftab’s) place, I would have chopped the person for arguing with me into more pieces, maybe 36. Only one person cannot make mistake. It is always the fault of both,” Kumar can be heard as saying in the video clip. 

    When the journalist asks from where he has been trained in such thoughts, the man can be heard saying, “What training, just take a knife and start cutting piece by piece.” 

    According to Bulandshahr SSP Shlok Kumar, two days back, a video of the youth claiming himself to be Rashid Khan, was found making objectionable comments. A case was filed against him at Sikandrabad police station. The SSP added that on Friday, when the police took the person in custody and questioned him, he identified himself as Vikas Kumar. 

    “In the preliminary inquiry, the police have found the accused to be of criminal background with five cases — two in Bulandshahr and three in Gautam Budh Nagar—lodged against him. 

    The cases filed against him are of theft and those under Arms Act,” said the SSP. According to Sikandrabad police station SHO Akhilesh Tripathi, the case was lodged against the youth on the basis of a complaint filed by Ravindra Sharma, who claims to be a member of the Hindu Jagran Manch. The FIR was lodged on Friday under IPC Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).

  • Plea in HC to transfer Shraddha Walkar murder case from Delhi Police to CBI

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI:  A PIL was filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking a direction to transfer the investigation into the Shraddha Walkar murder case from Delhi Police to the CBI, alleging that presence of media and public at places of recovery amounts to tampering of evidence.

    The plea, which is likely to be listed for a Wednesday hearing, alleged that the Delhi Police has revealed every detail to the media and public regarding the investigation which is not permitted under the law.

    It claimed that the Delhi Police have not sealed the alleged place of the incident to date which is continuously being accessed by the public and media personnel.

    Walkar was murdered by 28-year-old Aaftab Poonawala, who sawed her body into 35 pieces and dumped the body parts across the city over several days past midnight.

    “The incident of murder is alleged to have been taken place in Delhi and after that the body parts have been alleged to have disposed at different places, thus investigation of Police Station Mehrauli cannot be efficiently be carried out due to administrative/ staff paucity as well as lack of sufficient technical and scientific equipment to find out the evidences and the witnesses as the incident had taken place about six months back in May, 2022,” the petition filed by Joshini Tuli submitted.

    The plea, filed through advocate Joginder Tuli, claimed that sensitive details of the investigation by the Delhi Police have so far been revealed to public persons through the media which has led to tampering of sensitive evidence.

    “The presence of media and other public persons at the place of recoveries, court hearings etc. of any accused amounts to interference with the evidence and witnesses in the present case,” it alleged.

    On November 17, a trial court had permitted the police to question the accused for five more days in its custody, while another judge had allowed his narco analysis test to unravel the sensational case after he consented to undergo the forensic procedure.

    Earlier, the accused was sent to five days in police custody.

    NEW DELHI:  A PIL was filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking a direction to transfer the investigation into the Shraddha Walkar murder case from Delhi Police to the CBI, alleging that presence of media and public at places of recovery amounts to tampering of evidence.

    The plea, which is likely to be listed for a Wednesday hearing, alleged that the Delhi Police has revealed every detail to the media and public regarding the investigation which is not permitted under the law.

    It claimed that the Delhi Police have not sealed the alleged place of the incident to date which is continuously being accessed by the public and media personnel.

    Walkar was murdered by 28-year-old Aaftab Poonawala, who sawed her body into 35 pieces and dumped the body parts across the city over several days past midnight.

    “The incident of murder is alleged to have been taken place in Delhi and after that the body parts have been alleged to have disposed at different places, thus investigation of Police Station Mehrauli cannot be efficiently be carried out due to administrative/ staff paucity as well as lack of sufficient technical and scientific equipment to find out the evidences and the witnesses as the incident had taken place about six months back in May, 2022,” the petition filed by Joshini Tuli submitted.

    The plea, filed through advocate Joginder Tuli, claimed that sensitive details of the investigation by the Delhi Police have so far been revealed to public persons through the media which has led to tampering of sensitive evidence.

    “The presence of media and other public persons at the place of recoveries, court hearings etc. of any accused amounts to interference with the evidence and witnesses in the present case,” it alleged.

    On November 17, a trial court had permitted the police to question the accused for five more days in its custody, while another judge had allowed his narco analysis test to unravel the sensational case after he consented to undergo the forensic procedure.

    Earlier, the accused was sent to five days in police custody.

  • Mehrauli murder case: Police recover fragments of skull, body parts as probe progresses

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Delhi Police on Sunday recovered parts of a skull and bones from a forest area, police said.

    According to the sources, police recovered fragments of skull and other body parts, mostly bones, on the third day of extensive searches in the forest areas of Mehrauli and Gurgaon in the Delhi-NCR region. These will be sent for forensic analysis.

    Not far from Mehrauli, Delhi Police along with teams from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were involved in pumping out water from a pond since Sunday afternoon. The exercise began following accused Aaftab Poonwala’s claim that he had thrown Shraddha Walkar’s head and some body parts into the water body.

    “We have heard that some body parts are dumped here and the search for them is underway. They are taking out water from the pond. This pond supplies water to the tube wells in the area,” said Mahavir Pradhan, president of the RWA of the village.

    He said that they are ready to help the police but there could be another way of finding the body parts, rather than emptying the pond.

    “Divers could have been deployed to look for the body parts,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Shraddha murder case: Accused Poonawala likely to undergo narco analysis on Monday

    Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar, 27, on May 18 and sawed her body into nearly three dozen pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.

    Police took Poonawala to the flat where he and Walkar lived to gather more evidence.

    Also, the officials of Delhi Police and Rohini’s Forensic Science Laboratory held a meeting as they prepared to conduct a narco-analysis test through which they are hoping to get some vital clues from the accused.

    “We have taken up the matter. Our teams of forensic experts had an elaborative discussion with the officials of Delhi Police regarding the narco analysis test to be conducted and are preparing for the same,” a senior official from Rohini’s Forensic Science Laboratory said.

    In Maharashtra, a Delhi Police team called three persons known to Walkar in Palghar district to record their statements.

    Delhi Police team is in Manikpur in Palghar’s Vasai, which is the native place of the victim and where the couple had stayed before shifting to the national capital.

    On Saturday, it had recorded statements of four persons in Palghar – two men from whom Walkar had sought assistance after she was assaulted by Poonawala in 2020, a former manager of the call centre in Mumbai where Walkar worked and her female friend.

    Sources privy to the probe said that Poonawala burnt three photographs of Walkar in the kitchen after killing her.

    ALSO READ | Shraddha murder case: Court allows narco test, extends accused Aftab Poonawala’s police custody

    During interrogation, the accused said that he had developed a hatred for Walkar and combed through the various belongings of the couple after murdering her. The three big photographs of Walkar were in his bedroom, including two solo photographs from their Uttarakhand tour and a 2020 picture of the couple near Mumbai’s Gateway of India.

    During interrogation, he said that he wanted to destroy every evidence related to Walkar in the house.

    Police have recovered a bag of Walkar’s belongings, including her shoes and clothes from the house.

    As the police are scouring for evidence to nail Poonawala in court and ensure his conviction, experts here said that circumstantial evidence and forensic examination hold the key in such cases.

    Noting that it is a six-month-old murder, former Delhi Police commissioner S N Shrivastava said the scene of the crime has been cleaned up and police are depending on the confession of the accused, who seems to be a “clever” person.

    “It is going to be a very difficult case and will require the help of all organs of the criminal justice system to nail him down. Police will get what it can, but the court will also have to understand the situation and act accordingly,” he told PTI.

    The Delhi Police had on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the case.

    According to officials, after leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala had travelled to several locations, including Himachal Pradesh, and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips triggered Poonawala’s actions.

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Delhi Police on Sunday recovered parts of a skull and bones from a forest area, police said.

    According to the sources, police recovered fragments of skull and other body parts, mostly bones, on the third day of extensive searches in the forest areas of Mehrauli and Gurgaon in the Delhi-NCR region. These will be sent for forensic analysis.

    Not far from Mehrauli, Delhi Police along with teams from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were involved in pumping out water from a pond since Sunday afternoon. The exercise began following accused Aaftab Poonwala’s claim that he had thrown Shraddha Walkar’s head and some body parts into the water body.

    “We have heard that some body parts are dumped here and the search for them is underway. They are taking out water from the pond. This pond supplies water to the tube wells in the area,” said Mahavir Pradhan, president of the RWA of the village.

    He said that they are ready to help the police but there could be another way of finding the body parts, rather than emptying the pond.

    “Divers could have been deployed to look for the body parts,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Shraddha murder case: Accused Poonawala likely to undergo narco analysis on Monday

    Poonawala allegedly strangled Walkar, 27, on May 18 and sawed her body into nearly three dozen pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnight.

    Police took Poonawala to the flat where he and Walkar lived to gather more evidence.

    Also, the officials of Delhi Police and Rohini’s Forensic Science Laboratory held a meeting as they prepared to conduct a narco-analysis test through which they are hoping to get some vital clues from the accused.

    “We have taken up the matter. Our teams of forensic experts had an elaborative discussion with the officials of Delhi Police regarding the narco analysis test to be conducted and are preparing for the same,” a senior official from Rohini’s Forensic Science Laboratory said.

    In Maharashtra, a Delhi Police team called three persons known to Walkar in Palghar district to record their statements.

    Delhi Police team is in Manikpur in Palghar’s Vasai, which is the native place of the victim and where the couple had stayed before shifting to the national capital.

    On Saturday, it had recorded statements of four persons in Palghar – two men from whom Walkar had sought assistance after she was assaulted by Poonawala in 2020, a former manager of the call centre in Mumbai where Walkar worked and her female friend.

    Sources privy to the probe said that Poonawala burnt three photographs of Walkar in the kitchen after killing her.

    ALSO READ | Shraddha murder case: Court allows narco test, extends accused Aftab Poonawala’s police custody

    During interrogation, the accused said that he had developed a hatred for Walkar and combed through the various belongings of the couple after murdering her. The three big photographs of Walkar were in his bedroom, including two solo photographs from their Uttarakhand tour and a 2020 picture of the couple near Mumbai’s Gateway of India.

    During interrogation, he said that he wanted to destroy every evidence related to Walkar in the house.

    Police have recovered a bag of Walkar’s belongings, including her shoes and clothes from the house.

    As the police are scouring for evidence to nail Poonawala in court and ensure his conviction, experts here said that circumstantial evidence and forensic examination hold the key in such cases.

    Noting that it is a six-month-old murder, former Delhi Police commissioner S N Shrivastava said the scene of the crime has been cleaned up and police are depending on the confession of the accused, who seems to be a “clever” person.

    “It is going to be a very difficult case and will require the help of all organs of the criminal justice system to nail him down. Police will get what it can, but the court will also have to understand the situation and act accordingly,” he told PTI.

    The Delhi Police had on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the case.

    According to officials, after leaving Mumbai, Walkar and Poonawala had travelled to several locations, including Himachal Pradesh, and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips triggered Poonawala’s actions.