‘I was provoked, I hit her’, Aftab says in court

New Delhi: Aftab Ameen Poonawalla, accused of murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, on Tuesday told a metropolitan magistrate in Saket court that he was provoked because of which he hit her.

“I was provoked because of which I hit,” said Poonawalla in Saket court where he was produced before a metropolitan magistrate through video conferencing as his police custody ends on Tuesday, claimed his lawyer.

The court extended his police custody by four more days.

During the hearing, the judge asked Aftab if he was mistreated during questioning or had any issues.

“Aftab told the court that he was cooperating but he can’t recall everything at once and will inform as and when he does. He also told the judge that he was provoked because of which he hit,” said his lawyer, Avinash Kumar.

“Police will probably take him for a site visit for evidence collection. The Narco test will be conducted soon. Aftab has requested to meet his family to which the court has granted permission,” said Kumar.

Saket court has granted permission to police for a polygraph test before Narco analysis.

Meanwhile, in Delhi High Court, the police told that the investigation into the murder of Shraddha by Aftab is 80 per cent complete.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking a transfer of the probe in the Shraddha murder case, by the Delhi Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation, was filed on Monday but however, the plea was rejected by the court on Tuesday.

In the plea, Petitioner Advocate Joshini Tuli argued for the transfer of the case “due to the sensitive nature of the case and the hampering of Investigation and tampering of witnesses and evidence of the present case by the Delhi Police/ Respondent No.1 and Respondent No.4”.

It also alleged that investigation of Mehrauli Police “cannot be carried out efficiently due to administrative/staff paucity as well as lack of sufficient technical and scientific equipment to find out the evidence and the witnesses as the incident had taken place about 6 months back in May 2022.”

Belongings moved

Aftab had shifted belongings from his flat in Maharashtra’s Vasai flat to Delhi this June in order to give an impression that his girlfriend had left him and he needed all the household essentials, Delhi Police said on Tuesday.

According to the Delhi Police, it was part of “Aftab’s plan” after he allegedly strangled Shraddha in May this year and chopped her up into multiple parts and preserved them in a refrigerator before disposing them over several days.

Delhi Police said that Aftab was attempting to portray that Shraddha had left him and had also taken away with her all household items.

In order to show that he required all those essential items he hired a movers and packers company to transport his belongings from his flat in the Vasai area of Palghar to Delhi’s Chhattarpur area.

“After killing Shraddha in May, as a part of his plan, Aftab made an online booking with a travel company in June and transported around 37 boxes of belongings to his residence in Delhi’s Chhatarpur area. He did this to have a fool-proof plan to save himself if the situation so arose,” a police official said.

Police further said that accused Aftab not only burnt Shraddha’s photo but also all evidence related to her besides all the household items connected with her that were transported from Vasai to Delhi.

“They had transported all necessary things at the time of moving to Delhi in March, but after the murder in May, Aaftab prepared a list of 37 items and brought them from Vasai to fabricate a whole new story. What happened to those items will also be investigated,” the police added.