Shraddha Walkar murder: Police start draining pond in search for remains

Intensifying its search Delhi Police on Sunday began draining a pond in South Delhis Maidangarhi to retrieve the remains of Shraddha Walkar that were allegedly dumped by her livein partner after murdering her six months ago while it found parts of a skull and some bones in a nearby forest areaPolice took accused Aaftab Poonawala to the flat where he and Walkar lived to gather more evidence Also the officials of Delhi Police and Rohinis Forensic Science Laboratory held a meeting as they prepared to conduct a narcoanalysis test through which they are hoping to get some vital clues from the accusedWe 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 Rohinis Forensic Science Laboratory saidA Delhi court had on Thursday directed the city police to complete the narco analysis test within five days while making it clear that it cannot use any third degree measure on himIn Maharashtra a Delhi Police team called three persons known to Walkar in Palghar district to record their statements The team is in Manikpur in Palghars Vasai which is the native place of the victim and where the couple had stayed before shifting to the national capitalOn 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 friendAccording 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 DelhiNCR region These will be sent for forensic analysisNot far from Mehrauli Delhi Police along with teams of MCD were involved in pumping out water from a pond since Sunday afternoon The exercise began following Poonwalas claim that he had thrown her head and some other remains in the water bodyWe have heard that some body parts are dumped here and the search for them is underway They are taking out the water from the pond This pond supplies water to the tubewells in the area said Mahavir Pradhan president of the RWA of the villageAlso Read Shraddha Walkar murder CCTV captures Aftab Poonawalla walking with two bagsHe said that they are ready to help the police but there could be another way of finding the body parts rather than emptying the pondDivers could have been deployed to look for the body parts he saidPoonawala allegedly strangled Walkar 27 on May 18 and sawed her body into nearly three dozen pieces which he kept in a 300litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhis Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days past midnightThe court had on Thursday permitted the city police to question Poonawala for five more days in its custodySources privy to the probe said that Poonawala claime that he burnt three photographs of Walkar in the kitchen after killing her During interrogation the accused said that he had developed a hatred for Walkar and combed through the various belongings of the couple after murdering herThe 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 Mumbais Gateway of IndiaDuring interrogation he said that he wanted to destroy every evidence related to Walkar in the house Police have recovered a bag of Walkars belongings including her shoes and clothes from the houseAs 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 casesNoting that it is a sixmonthold 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 personIt 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 PTIThe Delhi Police had on Friday sent teams to Maharashtra Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to hunt for evidence in the caseAccording to officials after leaving Mumbai Walkar and Poonawala had travelled to several locations including in Himachal Pradesh and police are visiting these places to ascertain whether any development during those trips triggered Poonawalas actionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever