Mehrauli murder: Delhi Police to seek details of accused from dating app

New Delhi, Nov 15

The Delhi Police will soon write to the 'Bumble' dating app seeking details of the profile of Aftab Ameen Poonawalla, who murdered his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopped her body into 35 pieces, sources said.

Further investigation into the gruesome case revealed that the accused met a woman via Bumble after the murder and brought her to his house in Chattarpur while the remains were still stored in the refrigerator, the informed sources added.

Investigators said that police teams were scanning his phone to get more details.

"He was using her Instagram account to avoid any suspicion by her friends," an official said.

Poonawalla was arrested on November 12 for killing Walker on May 18.

He dumped the remains in Mehrauli forest area over a period of 18 days.

Meanwhile, the victim's family have also claimed that Aftab used to beat her at times.

According to the FIR registered by the victim's father, the family disagreed with the relationship, following which she said that she had full rights to make her own decisions.

"Later, she left the house and was in a live-in relationship with Aftab. Sometimes, she used to inform her mother that Aftab beats her," it said.

The FIR went on to say that some 15-20 days after her mother's death in 2020, she called her father, saying the same.

"She met me and when I asked her to leave Poonawala and return to home, Poonawalla apologised to her and she again went with him. She did not listen to my request due to which I stopped talking to her for several months," the victim's father said in the FIR.

After chopping the body, the accused bought a new refrigerator with a large storage capacity the next day and stored the remains in it.

To counter the stench, he lit incense sticks at his home.

Aftab was reportedly inspired by the American crime show 'Dexter', which tells the story of a man with homicidal tendencies who lives a double life.

Being a trained chef, the accused was adept at using a knife, according to the sources.

However, the murder weapon is yet to be recovered.

The matter came to light on November 8 when the victim's father along with a police team from Palghar, Maharashtra, came to the Mehrauli police station to register a missing complaint.