A Delhi court has expressed its dissatisfaction with the slow progress in the Shraddha Walkar murder case, noting significant delays over the past three months. The court urged lawyers to expedite the proceedings after the summer vacation.
Vikas Walkar, the father of Shraddha Walkar whose brutal murder in 2022 had caused a nationwide sensation, died on Sunday at his residence in Vasai city of Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said.
Shraddha's father also demanded the case be fast-tracked and Poonawala hanged.
Poonawala, however, denied the charges and demanded a trial. The matter has been posted for further proceedings on June 1.
Poonawala will now have to appear before a principal district and sessions judge at Saket in New Delhi on Friday.
The Maharashtra Police said that based on a complaint by Shraddha Walkar in 2020, they had begun an investigation but the case was closed after she gave a written statement to withdraw the case.
A 56-year-old man was arrested after the chopped body parts of his live-in partner were recovered from a flat in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said on Thursday. A court has remanded the man, identified as Manoj Sane, in police custody till June 16, he said.
Some others, however, said that since Walkar had withdrawn her complaint later, the police cannot be blamed as they could not do much after that.
In a statement, police also said in view of the the "deceptive nature" of responses provided by the accused, an application for conducting his narco analysis test was made and it has been approved by the court.
The father also testified about Poonawala's statement that after strangulation of the victim, he bought a saw, chopped off her wrists and put those in a trash bag.
Shubham Lonkar, the mastermind and wanted accused in Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique's murder had allegedly planned the murder of Aftab Poonawala, the accused arrested in the gruesome Shraddha Walker murder case, sources said.
Poonam and Deepak kept the body parts of Anjan Das in a fridge and would dispose them of at different places in east Delhi.
The Delhi police has recovered the weapon allegedly used by Aaftab Amin Poonawala to cut the body of his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, sources said on Monday.
The Delhi police, which is probing the Shraddha Walkar murder case in which her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala allegedly strangulated her to death and chopped her body into 35 pieces, dumped it in the Chhatarpur area of the national capital, has taken DNA samples of Shraddha's father Vikas Walkar so that the dumped body parts and blood sample can be matched.
During his first day in police custody, Sheezan told Waliv police that he ended the relationship with Tunisha after seeing repercussions emerging from the Shraddha Walkar case and told his former paramour that belonging to a different community stands in their way as did their age gap.
The victim's father, Vikas Madan Walkar, was being cross-examined as a prosecution witness by accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala's counsel before additional sessions judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar.
A Delhi court on Friday fixed March 7 for hearing arguments on charges against Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into multiple pieces.
The committee will hold regular meetings with district officials and collect information of registered and unregistered inter-faith and intercaste marriages; on such marriage that took place in places of worship and marriages took place after elopement.
Aaftab Amin Poonawala used to beat Shraddha Walkar and then apologise, persuading her to forgive the assaults, her brother testified on Thursday in a Delhi court which commenced recording the testimonies of witnesses in the sensational murder trial.
Talking to reporters in the Maharashtra legislature complex in Nagpur on Tuesday, Fadnavis said there was a 'feeling' in the House regarding the Shraddha Walkar case that instances of 'love jihad' were seen at a large scale in the state.
A close friend of Maharashtra resident Shraddha Walkar, who was killed allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in Delhi, has said there could be a 'big conspiracy' behind her murder, while another friend claimed she had once called him saying Poonawala would kill her.
The polygraph test ended on Tuesday after multiple sessions, the sources said.
'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'
Shraddha never told me about her anger issues: Father
Poonawala's applications alleged that he was "falsely implicated" in the case and that the prosecution "intentionally" provided a digital copy of the chargesheet "which cannot be read".
Aaftab Amin Poonawala will be taken to different locations in south Delhi on Saturday as the Delhi Police are trying to locate more body parts which he had allegedly disposed of after killing his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, officials said.
The police on Thursday claimed to have gathered some key evidence in the Mehrauli murder case, saying the DNA samples extracted from the bones recovered from a forest area and from the blood traces found at the house where Shraddha Walkar was murdered have matched with samples of her father.
The police said that the charge sheet was filed on Tuesday under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC. Over 150 testimonies have been recorded, they said.
Additional sessions judge Manisha Khurana Kakkar issued the directions to authorities while hearing arguments on the charges against Poonawala.
The doctor who treated the Mumbai girl, Shraddha Walkar, for acute shoulder and back pain in the year 2020, on Friday said that the accused Aaftab Poonawala accompanied her when she was brought to hospital.
A court in Mumbai restrained a television news channel on Monday from utilising in any form any material related to the FIR registered in the Shraddha Walkar murder case.
The Saket court on Tuesday extended the police custody of Aftab Poonawala to four more days after he was produced before the court via video conferencing in a special hearing.
In a new development in Shraddha Walkar murder case, Aaftab Amin Poonawala's most recent girlfriend was in shock after hearing about the horrific act by him and said that she had no clue that human body parts were kept inside Aaftab's Chhatarpur residence when she visited there twice after the murder.
The process of recording the statements was underway at the Vasai crime branch office, he said.
Aaftab Amin Poonawala has not yet confessed to killing his live-in-partner Shraddha Walkar in the court of law, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
The police have so far recovered bones. Prima facie, they resemble human bones, it said.
Poonawala, who appeared through video conference, said though he had signed the vakalatnama, he was not aware a bail petition would be filed by his advocate.
As Poonawala's five-day police custody ends on Tuesday, the Delhi Police is running against time to get the test conducted.
Call centre employee Shraddha Walkar had two years ago complained to the police in Maharashtra that her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, who is accused of brutally murdering her, tried to kill her and she feared he would cut her into pieces and throw her away, an official said in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The plea alleged that the presence of media and public in places of recoveries amounts to interference with evidence.
